A..:^  New 
Immigra  tion 

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THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  •    BOSTON  •  CHICAGO 
DALLAS      SAN  FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limited 

LONDON  •  BOMBAY  •  CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 


THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


Types  in  the  New  Immigration 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


A  STUDY  OF  THE  INDUSTRIAL  AND  SOCIAL 
LIFE  OF  SOUTHEASTERN  EUROPEANS 
IN  AMERICA 


BY 


PETER  ROBERTS,  Ph.D. 

AUTHOR  OF  "ANTHRACITE  COAL  INDUSTRY,"  "ANTHRACITE 
COAL  COMMUNITIES,"  ETC. 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
1912 

AU  rights  reservea 


COFYRIGHT,  igii. 

By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 
Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  September,  ign. 


J.  8.  Cushlng  Co.  —  Berwick  4  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


Co 

MARCELLUS  HARTLEY  DODGE 

AND 

JOHN  SHERMAN  HOYT 

WHOSE  HUMAN  SYMPATHY  AND  PATRIOTIC  ZEAL 
HAVE  GREATLY  INCREASED  THE  VOLUME 
OF  INTEREST  IN,  AND  MINISTRY 
TO,  THE  IMMIGRANTS 


PREFACE 


This  book  is  an  attempt  to  describe  the  quality,  the  industrial 
efficiency,  the  social  life,  and  the  relation  to  the  native-bom 
of  the  men  of  the  new  immigration. 

By  the  new  immigration  is  meant  the  peoples  emigrating  to 
America  from  the  countries  of  southeastern  Europe.  They  first 
appeared  in  the  immigration  stream  in  the  early  eighties  of  the 
last  century.  At  first  they  were  few  in  number,  but  they  steadily 
increased,  and,  in  1896,  formed  the  major  part  of  the  immi- 
gration inflow ;  in  the  past  decade  they  have  formed  about 
seventy-five  per  cent  of  European  immigrants  to  the  United 
States,  The  term  "old  immigration"  is  applied  to  men  emi- 
grating from  northwestern  Europe,  who,  up  to  1880,  almost 
wholly  comprised  the  immigration  inflow  from  the  old  into 
the  new  world. 

Many  works  have  been  published  describing  the  immigrants 
in  the  homeland,  their  coming  to  America,  and  the  difficulties 
they  encounter  before  they  reach  their  destination  ;  but  few  are 
the  writers  who  have  attempted  to  give  a  picture  of  the  emi- 
grants of  the  last  thirty  years  at  work,  in  their  homes,  and  in 
their  social  life.  A  knowledge  of  economic  conditions  and 
social  life  in  the  countries  whence  we  get  our  immigrants  is 
important ;  but  the  way  immigrants  are  treated  when  they 
enter,  the  part  they  play  in  the  industries  of  the  United  States, 
the  way  they  live  in  American  cities,  the  manner  in  which  they 
are  treated  by  the  native-born,  and  what  all  this  means  to 
America,  is  of  far  greater  importance.  The  following  pages 
give  a  picture  of  the  new  immigration  in  America  ;  it  is  not 
perfect  by  any  means,  but  if  it  quickens  the  interest  of  the 

vii 


viii 


PREFACE 


native-born  in  these  sons  and  daughters  of  backward  races, 
so  that  telle  action  in  their  behalf  is  instituted,  their  hopes  and 
aspirations  understood,  and  their  desire  to  become  Americans 
inteUigently  met,  my  labors  will  not  have  been  in  vain. 

I  believe  in  the  immigrant.  He  has  in  him  the  making  of 
an  American,  provided  a  sympathetic  hand  guides  him  and 
smooths  the  path  which  leads  to  assimilation.  The  hand  of 
the  native-born  can  best  do  this  ;  and  my  main  thesis  is,  that 
in  every  community  where  the  men  of  southeastern  Europe 
have  settled,  the  redemptive  forces  necessary  to  raise  the  for- 
eigners from  inefficiency  and  ignorance,  from  anti-social  habits 
and  gross  superstition,  are  available,  provided  they  are  mar- 
shaled, supported,  and  set  to  work  by  patriotic  men.  Wherever 
the  native-born  lie  supinely,  looking  to  state  or  federal  gov- 
ernment for  relief  from  the  ills  precipitated  by  foreigners,  their 
expectations  will  not  be  fulfilled,  and  the  ills  they  bemoan  will 
grow  more  intense.  Foreigners  in  American  cities  will  not 
throw  off  the  slough  of  medieval  civilization  unless  the  native- 
born  will  help  them. 

My  main  purpose  has  been  to  give  facts  and  leave  most  of 
the  theorizing  to  the  reader.  Upon  this  question,  as  others 
of  public  interest,  there  is  a  division  of  opinion ;  and  yet  every 
patriot  believes  his  position  best  for  the  future  well-being  of 
America.  We  are  a  young  nation ;  no  prophet  has  dared 
to  predict  the  possibilities  of  the  future ;  but  the  past  industrial 
development  of  America  points  unerringly  to  Europe  as  the 
source  whence  our  future  unskilled  labor  supply  is  to  be  drawn. 
The  gates  will  not  be  closed ;  the  wheels  of  industry  will  not 
retard ;  America  is  in  the  race  for  the  markets  of  the  world ; 
its  call  for  workers  will  not  cease.  Confronted  by  these  con- 
ditions, is  it  not  the  duty  of  the  government  to  deal  generously 
and  justly  by  those  who  answer  the  call,  and  should  not  every 
industrial  community  adopt  some  definite  plan  for  constructive 
work  to  raise  the  standard  of  the  new  immigration  and  speed 
on  the  process  of  assimilation  ? 


PREFACE 


ix 


The  immigration  problem,  however,  will  not  be  intelligently 
solved,  until  the  civilized  nations  affected  by  it  confer  and 
agree  upon  regulations  which  are  just  to  the  weak  as  well  as  to 
the  strong.  The  immigration  policy  of  the  United  States  will 
best  comply  with  the  demands  of  reason  and  justice,  when  the 
rights  of  other  countries  are  recognized  and  the  citizens  of 
friendly  nations  are  justly  treated.  Our  legislators  have  usually 
considered  only  America's  interests  in  enacting  laws  regulating 
emigration  and  immigration,  but  the  time  is  come  when  they 
should  also  consider  the  interests  of  other  nations.  Immigra- 
tion is  an  international  problem,  and  can  only  be  properly  treated 
by  an  international  conference. 

I  owe  much  to  my  friends  and  associates  for  inspiration  and 
suggestions  in  the  preparation  of  this  book.  I  have  especially 
to  thank  Professor  Annie  Marion  MacLean,  of  Adelphi  College, 
Brooklyn  ;  Professor  William  B.  Bailey,  of  Yale  University ;  and 
Professor  Daniel  Evans,  of  Andover  Seminary,  for  carefully 
reading  the  manuscript  and  giving  me  valuable  suggestions. 

PETER  ROBERTS. 

New  York  City, 
1912. 


CONTENTS 


PART  I.    INDUCEMENTS  AND  IMPRESSIONS 


CHAPTER  I 

INDUCEMENTS  TO  EMIGRATE 

PAGES 

Change  to  Steamships  —  Steerage  Conditions — Improved 
Conditions  —  Center  of  Immigration  —  Change  in  Char- 
acter—  Economic  Cause  —  The  Ambitious  come  —  The 
Persecuted  come  —  America  attracts  —  The  Land  of 
Refuge  —  Aspirations  and  Hopes  —  The  Power  of  the 
Letter  —  Prosperity  promotes  —  The  Gold  Stream  —  Birds 
of  Passage  —  Do  we  get  too  many?  —  Is  the  Stock  Poor? 
—  Good  Qualities  1-17 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  TRIALS  AT  THE  GATE 

Ellis  Island  —  Personal  Cleanliness  —  Bitter  Complaints  —  De- 
portation for  Trivial  Causes  —  Mistakes  of  Others  —  Some 
are  robbed  —  Trying  to  Escape  —  A  Sad  Case  —  Mothers 
suffer  —  A  Family  divided  —  Some  Fraud  practiced  — 
Contract  Labor  Law  —  A  Broad  Net  —  The  Board  of  In- 
quiry —  No  Lawyer  allowed  —  Traffic  in  Boys  —  Difficult 
Cases  —  The  Hospital  a  Blessing  —  Ellis  Island  Interesting 

—  Kindness  Pays  .■       .  18-32 

xi 


xii 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  III 

FIRST  IMPRESSIONS 

rxCKS 

States  in  Control  —  In  Ellis  Island  —  The  Detained — Laws 
not  enforced  —  The  Commissariat  —  Railroads  guard 
Immigrants — Clerks  make  Mistakes  —  The  Immigrant 
Train  —  Some  of  the  Tragedies  —  On  the  Train  —  A 
Kind-hearted  Agent  —  The  Foreigners'  Address  —  Pro- 
viding for  Immigrants  —  Foreigners  have  Feelings  — The 
American  Pace — Don't  like  the  Rush  —  Standards  of 
Living  —  They  object  to  Waste  —  One  Law  for  All .       .  33-48 

PART  II.    INDUSTRIAL  LIFE 
CHAPTER  IV 

THE  INDUSTRIES  THEY  ENTER 

America  needed  Laborers  —  Foreigners  in  Industries  —  Na- 
tionalities in  Special  Industries — In  the  Clothing  Indus- 
try —  In  Disagreeable  Work  —  In  Construction  Camps  — 
Foreigners  in  Mines  —  In  Coal  Mines  —  In  Pits  and  Quar- 
ries—  In  Iron  and  Steel  Industries  —  In  Plow  Plants  — 
On  Railroad  and  Docks  —  In  Brick  and  Clay  Works  —  In 
Textiles  and  Refineries  —  Some  Skilled  Workers — For- 
eigners in  Trade  and  Commerce  —  Debt  to  the  Workers  .  49-62 

CHAPTER  V 

CONDITIONS  OF  WORK 

Government  Help  —  Labor  Agencies  —  Graft  in  Employment 

—  Hard  to  find  Men  —  Inhuman  Treatment  —  Disagree- 
able Conditions  —  Injurious  to  Health  —  Wages  are  Low 

—  Wages  vary  greatly  —  Labor  Troubles  —  Operators  are 
prejudiced  —  Workers  are  prejudiced  —  Industrial  Re- 
arrangement —  Mixing  the  Nationalities  —  Foreigners  sat- 
isfied —  Some  Disagreeable  Habits  —  Wants  a  Fair 
Chance  63-77 


CONTENTS 


xiii 


CHAPTER  VI 

ACCIDENTS 

FACES 

European  Workers  Homogeneous  —  American  Workers  Het- 
erogeneous —  Prime  Cause  of  Accidents  —  One  Language 
Needed  —  Foreigners  take  Risks  —  Industries  Risky  — 
The  Hurry-up  Habit  —  Electricity  Risky — More  Power 
means  More  Risks  —  Some  Figures  tell  a  Sad  Story  — 
Little  Compensation  given  —  Courts  prejudiced  —  All 
Men  Equal  ?  —  Disasters  fall  on  Foreigners  —  Foreign 
Hearts  feel  —  Improvement  is  made        ....  78-91 

CHAPTER  VII 

EFFICIENCY  AND  PROGRESS 

Industrial  Discipline — Their  Wages  increase  —  Bad  Qualities 
copied — Undesirable  Qualities  —  Many  Holidays  —  For 
eigners  drink  —  Foreigners  don't  eat  Enough  —  Some 
Foreigners  Thieves  —  Foreigners  not  Truthfiil  —  Desira- 
ble Qualities —  A.  A.  Paryski,  Publisher — F.  L.  Frugone 
—  Efficient  in  Work  —  Mother  Wit  —  Some  have  Busi- 
ness Ability — Fear  of  Socialism  —  Italians  are  Individu- 
alistic —  Slavs  not  Socialists  in  America  —  Operators  can 
help  92-108 


PART  III.    COMMUNITY  CONDITIONS 
CHAPTER  VIII 

CAMP  AND  TOWN  LIFE 

A  Mining  Camp  —  A  Construction  Camp — A  Lumber  Camp 
—  A  Monotonous  Life  —  Other  Camps  —  The  Boss  of  the 
Camp  —  The  Padrone  is  Gracious —  In  America,  but  not 
of  it  —  Foreigners  in  Small  Towns  —  Bad  Example  Set  — 
Drink  the  Prime  Cause  —  Good  Men  should  lead  — 
Schools  in  Small  Towns  —  The  Mother  needs  Help  — 
Organize  Good  Women — Small  Towns  remembered      .  109-123 


xiv 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  IX 

HOUSING  CONDITIONS 

PAGES 

How  Single  Men  live  —  Men  bent  on  Saving  —  City  Quarters 
for  Foreigners — Greedy  Landlords  —  Some  Crowding 
done  —  The  Boarding  Houses  —  Beds  used  Day  and 
Night  —  The  Boarding  Boss  is  watched  —  Laws,  Tools 
for  Grafters  —  Foreigners  rack  Houses  —  Foreigners  do 
not  bathe  often — Bathing  Conveniences  needed — Dirt 
and  Disease — Foreigners  serve  us  124-138 


CHAPTER  X 

HOME  LIFE 

Foreigners  not  Fastidious  —  Relation  of  the  Sexes  —  Vice  in 
Homes  —  Women  are  Drudges  —  Fecundity  of  Foreign 
Women — Child  Bearing  —  Old  World  Customs  —  Dirty 
Homes  —  Superstition  —  The  Married  —  A  Wedding  — 
Fraudulent  Marriage  —  Foreigners  adopt  New  Standards 
—  Leaving  Old  Standards  —  Americanize  the  Home  — 
Owning  Homes  —  Homes  transformed    ....  139-155 


CHAPTER  XI 

CITIES  WHERE  THEY  GATHER 

The  Industrial  Zone  —  Foreigners  in  Every  City  —  Foreigners 
colonize  —  Foreigners  entering  a  Block  —  From  Country 
to  City  —  Processes  of  Graft  in  Cities  —  No  English  means 
Difficulties  —  The  Family  Income  —  Defectives  and  De- 
pendents —  Boarders  and  Lodgers  —  Boarders  crowd  to- 
gether —  Racial  Groups  live  together  —  Standards  of 
Cleanliness  —  Urban  Advantages  156-172 


CONTENTS 


XV 


PART  IV.    SOCIAL  RELATIONS 
CHAPTER  XII 

LEADERS 

PACES 

The  Leader  in  General  —  Women  Leaders —  Kinds  of  Leaders 

—  Leaders  aid  Employers  —  Saloon-keepers  as  Leaders 

—  Leaders  as  Politicians  —  Men  who  defraud  —  Jealousy 
among  Leaders  —  Italians  are  divided  —  Leaders  in  Free 
Thought  —  The  Priests  as  Leaders  — Capable  Men  ought 

to  lead  —  American  Leaders  wanted  —  Community  Work  .  173-186 

CHAPTER  XIII 

SOCIETIES 

Religious  Societies  —  Secular  Organizations  —  Secular  Socie- 
ties—  Friendly  Relations  —  Military  Societies — Sokol 
Societies  —  Selected  Groups  —  Clubs  like  Americans  — 
Clubs  as  Gambling  Dens — Labor  Organizations  —  For- 
eigners in  Labor  Unions  —  National  Societies  —  Pan- 
ethnic  Societies  —  Helping  the  Unfortunates  —  Uplifting 
Agencies  —  A  Leader  who  leads  187-199 

CHAPTER  XIV 

CHURCHES 

Roman  Catholics  coming  —  Replacement  of  Worshipers  — 
All  Romanists  do  not  agree — The  Greek  Orthodox  — 
Foreigners  have  Many  Faiths  —  Foreigners  are  very  re- 
ligious —  No  State  Church  not  understood  —  Drifting 
from  the  Church  —  Men  who  leave  their  Church  —  The 
Priests  are  capable  —  Fanatical  Converts  —  A  Sure  Cure 

—  Protestant  Pastors  —  Harmony  needed  —  Agree  in  Do- 
ing Good  200-215 


xvi 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  XV 

BANKS  AND  SAVINGS 

TACKS 

Banks  in  Foreign  Colonies — Banks  and  Company  Stores  — 
Foreigners  bent  on  Saving  —  Simple  Living  —  Necessity 
for  Bankers  —  Immigrant  Bankers  meet  a  Need  —  Saloon- 
keepers as  Bankers — No  Interest  paid  —  Bankers  are 
Useful  Men  —  Americans  after  the  Trade  —  Banking  a 
Side  Show  —  Frauds  practiced  —  The  Amount  of  Fraud 
—  Postal  Savings  serve  Good  Purpose  —  Legislative  Safe- 
guards —  State  Regulations  limited        ....  216-232 


CHAPTER  XVI 

CRIME  AND  THE  COURTS 

Facts  published  —  Figures  favor  the  Foreign-born  —  Nature 
of  Crime  —  Brutal  Savagery  —  Drink  the  Cause  of  Crime 
—  Crimes  Peculiar  to  Foreigners  —  Appropriating  Fuel  — 
Foreigners  hide  Crime  —  Foreigners  escape  —  Murder  is 
Murder  —  Foreigners  keep  Courts  Busy  —  Environment 
and  Crime  —  Crime  begets  Crime  233-247 


CHAPTER  XVII 

POLITICS 

Catholic  Immigrants  feared  —  America  for  Americans  —  Con- 
tract Labor  Law  passed  —  Retrogression  or  Progress  — 
Naturalization  more  Difficult  —  Tests  for  Naturalization  — 
Should  Probation  be  Longer?  —  The  Foreigners  need 
Instruction  —  Small  Numbers  naturalized  —  Some  For- 
eigners in  a  Dilemma  —  The  Foreign  Newspaper  —  The 
Saloon  in  Politics  —  Foreign-born  Voters  will  follow 
Leaders  —  Wise  Leaders  do  Good  Work ....  248-264 


CONTENTS 


xvii 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

RECREATION 

FACES 

A  Professor  of  Relaxation  —  Some  Oriental  Blood  —  Holy 
Days  and  Festal  Days  —  Weddings  and  Christenings  — 
The  Saloon  a  Social  Center — Italians  and  Gambling  — 
Greek  Enjoyments —  Greek  Wrestlers  — Foreigners  Fond 
of  Music  —  Music  has  Charms  —  Love  of  the  Drama  — 
Italians  are  Actors  —  Amusement  Places  needed     .       .  265-277 

CHAPTER  XIX 

CULTURE 

Some  Foreigners  Cultured  —  Foreigners  want  a  Chance  — 
What  does  the  Foreigner  need  to  learn  ?  —  Uplift  Work 
not  Easy — Must  meet  his  Need  intelligently — Socialize 
the  Public  School  —  The  Roman  Church  can  do  much  — 
Education  and  Crime — Employers  are  Good  Helpers  — 
Women  should  be  educated  —  Relation  to  the  State  — 
America  stimulates  —  Libraries  do  Good  Work  —  For- 
eigners should  choose  the  Books  —  Foreigners  have  Self- 
culture    278-291 


PART  V.    ASSIMILATION  AND  HINDRANCES 
CHAPTER  XX 

RELATIONS  TO  AMERICANS 

The  Foreigner  hangs  on  —  They  do  what  they  are  told  — 
They  are  thrifty  —  The  Evils  Foreigners  bring  —  Ameri- 
cans stand  aloof  —  Foreigners  will  imitate  —  Quaint 
Ways  among  Foreigners  —  Persecution  of  Foreigners  — 
Some  Christians  despise  Foreigners — Some  Christians  help 
Foreigners  —  Native-born  can  lead  —  A  Glorious  Herit- 
age—  Mixture  Means  Strength  —  Give  the  Foreigners 
American  Ideals  —  Contrast  —  Preserve  the  Civilization  .  292-307 


xviii 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  XXI 

REACHING  THE  NEWCOMER 

PAGES 

Study  Each  Nation  —  Know  Your  Town  —  Scientific  Investi- 
gation —  Tlie  Way  Facts  are  gathered  —  One  Organizer  — 
Young  People  can  investigate —  A  Committee  at  Work  — 
Serve  One  People  Well  — The  Work  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

—  Work  in  Canada  —  Foreigners  are  followed  up  — 
Lectures  to  Foreigners  —  North  American  Civic  League 

—  Other  Agencies  at  Work  —  Work  done  by  Churches  — 
Foreigners  are  Religious  —  Proselytism  will  not  win  — 
Fundamental  Principles  —  A  Religious  Family  —  United 
Effort  Desirable  —  Let  the  Foreigners  help — Personal 
Touch  is  the  Solution  308-323 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE  CHILD  OF  THE  FOREIGNER 

The  Desire  to  excel  —  Temptations  of  City  Life  —  No  Disci- 
pline in  the  Home  —  Influence  of  the  Press  —  The  Juve- 
nile Courts  —  Let  the  Foreigner  express  himself — The 
Foreigner's  Child  not  understood  —  In  the  Public  School 

—  The  Parochial  School  —  Standards  in  Education  — 
Lack  of  Cooperation  —  The  Working  Boy  —  Young  For- 
eigners as  Workers  —  Foreign-born  Parents  Ambitious  — 
Americans  can  help  the  Boy —  Boys  made  Men  too  soon 

—  Believe  in  the  Sons  of  Foreigners  —  American  Standard 
should  prevail  —  American  Laws  should  be  enforced  — 

Moral  Education  needed  324-340 

PART  VI.  CONCLUSIONS 
CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE  IMMIGRATION  PROBLEM 

Scum  of  the  Earth  —  Many  return  —  Gold  taken  out  —  The 
Most  Dangerous  —  Bad  Effects  —  Racial  Suicide  —  Li- 


CONTENTS 


xix 


censes  given  —  Laws  on  Housing — Laxity  of  Laws  — 
Work  needed  done  —  Philosophy  and  Practice  —  More 
Laws  —  International  Relations  —  Other  Recommenda- 
tions—  Too  Much  Legislation — Private  Efforts  —  The 
Public  School  —  Private  Agencies  —  Foreigners  should 
help  —  Distribution  of  Foreigners  —  Personal  Contact     .  341-359 


ADDENDA 

Returning  Immigrants  —  Immigration  Statistics  —  Debarred 
and  Deported  —  Manufacturing  Experience  in  the  Home- 
land—  Industrial  Expansion  —  Percentage  of  Families 
Having  Lodgers  or  Boarders  —  Annual  Earnings  of  For- 
eign-born Men  —  Fecundity  of  Immigrant  Women  —  Pop- 
ulation of  Lawrence,  Mass.,  1848  and  1910  —  Percentage 
of  Immigrants  naturalized — Illiteracy  of  Immigrants  — 
Ability  to  speak  English  —  Children  at  Home,  etc.,  Per- 
centage of  Children  in  High  School  —  Annual  Wages  of 
Heads  of  Families  361-373 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Types  in  the  New  Immigration    ....  Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

Boston  Immigrant  Landing  Station   i8 

Foreigners  in  a  Meat-packing  Plant   54 

Stereopticon  Lecture  on  Accidents   80 

The  Skilled   100 

The  Unskilled   100 

A  Congested  Street   130 

Map  showing  Immigration  Zone   ....     on  page  157 

A  Stag  Boarding  House   170 

Tent  Work  in  Pittsburgh   198 

A  Greek  Orthodox  Cemetery   204 

Saving  the  Coal  Bill   240 

Class  in  Naturalization   258 

Indoor  Amusement   278 

Men  of  the  Forest   290 

Pittsburgh's  Naturalization  Court   316 

Boys  of  Foreign  Parentage   33^ 

Community  Meeting   35^ 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


PART  I 
INDUCEMENTS  AND  IMPRESSIONS 

CHAPTER  I 

INDUCEMENTS  TO  EMIGRATE 

Thousands  of  cabin  passengers  cross  the  ocean  for  pleasure ; 
the  steerage  passengers,  almost  to  a  man,  seek  a  better  country. 
The  steamship  companies  study  the  comfort  and  convenience  of 
the  pleasure  seeker,  but  the  necessities  of  the  true  emigrant  have 
had  the  least  possible  attention.  Steerage  conditions  have  often 
been  denounced  as  a  disgrace  to  civilization  and  remedies  have 
only  been  effected  by  the  lash  of  legal  enactment.  Emigrants 
who  came  to  America  m  sailing  vessels  previous  to  the  sixties 
of  the  last  century,  can  never  forget  the  steerage  conditions  under 
which  they  came.  The  dread  of  hunger  and  of  thirst,  the  terrible 
ravages  of  ship  fever  and  epidemics,  the  absence  of  conveniences 
which  common  decency  demands,  —  these  ordeals  still  hang  as  a 
pall  in  their  memories,  and  more  than  half  a  century  of  life  in 
the  United  States  has  not  been  able  to  obliterate  the  impression. 
The  throes  of  that  voyage  —  made  two  generations  ago  —  are 
still  rehearsed  with  a  feeling  which  can  only  be  explained  by  the 
abject  misery  endured. 

Change  to  Steamships.  —  Steamships,  as  soon  as  introduced, 
afforded  better  steerage  conditions  than  sailing  vessels ;  but  it 
always  takes  time  for  the  new  to  displace  the  old.  Steamers 
crossed  the  ocean  and  carried  passengers  early  in  the  forties,  but 
previous  to  1850  they  played  no  important  part  in  the  trans- 


2 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


portation  of  steerage  passengers  to  America.  The  swifter  and 
better  ships  were  first  put  at  the  service  of  men  able  to  pay ;  the 
real  immigrants  down  to  the  later  sixties  continued  to  come  in 
large  numbers  in  sailing  vessels  and  had  to  risk  a  death  rate  at  sea 
which  was  appalling.  It  was  only  a  question  of  time,  however, 
when  the  passenger  traffic  of  all  classes  would  pass  over  to  the 
better  equipped  and  swifter  vessels.  In  the  year  1856,  only 
3  per  cent  of  the  passengers  landing  in  Castle  Garden  were  carried 
in  steamships ;  ten  years  later  the  percentage  was  67.9 ;  ^  and 
in  another  decade  the  sailing  vessel  as  a  conveyor  of  immigrants 
was  practically  abandoned.  The  better  way  had  prevailed  and 
steerage  accommodations  were  greatly  improved.  No  longer 
were  hunger  and  thirst  a  menace  ;  fevers  and  epidemics  were  not 
banished  from  transporting  vessels,  but  the  voyage  was  reduced 
to  a  few  days,  and  the  terrible  death  rate  at  sea  was  virtually 
obliterated.  Invention  had  made  it  possible  for  the  real  emi- 
grants to  cross  the  ocean  in  safety. 

Steerage  Conditions.  —  Steerage  conditions  in  modem  steam- 
ships are  not  ideal,  but  they  are  steadily  improving.  A  com- 
parison of  the  accommodations  furnished  at  present  by  the  better 
class  of  vessels  with  those  found  on  aU  steamships  in  the  early 
eighties  of  the  last  century,  is  the  best  argument  of  the  progress 
made.  In  the  early  eighties,  every  steamship  had  compart- 
ments for  steerage  passengers,  in  which  himdreds  of  men  were 
huddled  together  in  berths  which  afforded  bare  room  to  lie  down. 
The  berths  were  two  deep,  and  each  passenger  paid  a  small  sum 
for  a  mattress  of  straw  made  to  fit  the  berth ;  he  also  provided 
himself  with  platter  and  cup,  knife  and  fork,  and  spoon, 
which  he  had  to  keep  clean  and  stow  away  for  safe  keeping. 
There  was  no  room  provided  to  place  hand  baggage  or  small 
trunks  save  in  the  berth.  WTien  the  man  got  in,  the  baggage 
got  out,  so  that  during  sleeping  hours  the  small  baggage  occu- 
pied the  pathway  leading  to  the  berths ;  if  the  vessel  rocked  hard 
during  the  night,  the  rattle  of  tins  and  crockery  was  great,  and, 
in  the  morning,  it  was  no  easy  task  to  locate  the  grip  or  small 
trunk  that  had  slid  away.    Towels  and  soap,  comb  and  brush, 

'  See  Immigration  Commission,  Abstract  of  Report  on  "  Steerage  Legislation,"  p.  13. 


INDUCEMENTS  TO  EMIGRATE 


3 


were  nowhere  in  sight,  and  the  washroom  and  toilet  accommo- 
dations were  far  from  decent.  The  air  in  the  compartment  was 
foul  at  all  times,  and  every  passenger  spent  as  little  time  there  as 
possible.  None  of  the  immigrants  thought  of  undressing  when 
they  went  to  rest  —  they  took  ofif  their  shoes,  removed  their 
coats,  and  turned  in,  and  with  the  dawn  they  were  again  on  deck. 
No  dining  room  was  provided,  but  the  space  between  the  two 
rows  of  berths  served  as  one.  Some  smooth  boards,  resting  on 
wooden  horses,  served  as  a  table.  In  front  of  the  tables  were 
benches.  When  the  meal  bell  rang,  a  rush  was  made  for  these  ; 
then  the  stewards  brought  bread,  meat,  vegetables,  etc.,  each 
passenger  in  turn  being  served  as  the  waiters  passed  from  one 
end  of  the  table  to  the  other.  The  bread  was  good ;  the  meat, 
tough ;  the  coffee,  poor ;  and  the  tea  —  slop.  All  passengers 
counted  the  days  as  they  plowed  the  deep,  and  the  one  consol- 
ing thought  was,  "It  won't  last  long."  Blessed  were  those  who 
had  provided  some  fruit  and  supplemental  articles  of  diet ;  some 
passengers  found  their  way  to  the  cook's  quarters  and  secured 
dainties  at  a  price ;  others  patronized  the  canteen  and  found 
cheer  in  strong  drink. 

Improved  Conditions.  —  Compared  with  these  steerage  con- 
ditions, the  new  type  is  much  better,  especially  that  denominated 
"  third  class,"  In  this  are  found  inclosed  berths  to  accom- 
modate from  four  to  eight  persons.  Room  is  provided  for  small 
trunks  or  hand  baggage,  and  there  are  hooks  upon  which  to  hang 
clothes.  A  stationary  washstand  with  towels  is  furnished,  and 
the  button  of  an  electric  alarm  is  near  each  berth,  so  that  the  oc- 
cupant may,  in  case  of  need,  summon  a  steward.  The  occupants 
of  these  quarters  secure  a  degree  of  privacy  that  enables  them  to 
remove  their  clothes  before  they  retire.  The  lavatories  are  de- 
cent, and  the  conveniences  provided  are  ample  and  always  usable. 
Regular  dining  rooms  are  provided,  and  the  utensils  used  are 
furnished  by  the  company  and  kept  clean  by  the  stewards. 
The  food  is  ample  and  of  good  quality,  providing  care  has  been 
exercised  in  its  preparation.  These  improvements  are  not 
common  as  yet  —  they  are  only  found  on  some  ships  carrying 
steerage  passengers  from  the  northwestern  countries  of  Europe, 


4 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


but  they  are  a  promise  and  a  prophecy  of  what  will  in  time  be 
installed  in  all  steamships  carrying  immigrants  to  the  United 
States.  The  ideal  as  presented  by  advocates  of  improved 
steerage  conditions  ^  is  not  yet  reached,  but  a  higher  standard 
as  to  space,  facilities,  ventilation,  and  food  obtains  to-day  than 
ever  before,  and  the  tendency  is  in  the  right  direction.  The 
steerage  conditions  ought  to  be  to  each  immigrant  suggestive 
of  the  standard  of  domestic,  social,  and  moral  life  in  the  coimtry 
to  which  he  comes. 

Center  of  Immigration.  —  Since  1880,  the  character  of  the 
immigrants  coming  to  the  United  States  has  changed.  Previous 
to  that  year  most  passengers  knew  the  EngUsh  language,  and 
practically  aU  of  them  were  of  Keltic  and  Teutonic  stock ; 
now  about  75  per  cent  of  the  immigrants  come  from  Slavic, 
Semitic,  Roman  or  lUyric  stock.^  The  center  of  European 
emigration  to  America  has  steadily  moved  eastward.  In  the 
forties  of  the  last  century  it  was  on  the  British  Isles ;  twenty 
years  later  it  was  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  North  Sea ;  in  the 
nineties  it  had  reached  the  border  of  Austria,  and  in  recent  years 
it  has  approached  the  northern  arm  of  the  Adriatic  Sea.  In 
the  last  decade,  a  gradually  increased  percentage  of  emigrants 
has  been  drawn  from  the  Balkan  States  and  Tiirkey  in  Europe; 
as  this  increases,  the  center  of  emigration  moves  toward  the 
Black  Sea.  With  the  change  in  the  ethnic  character  of  emi- 
grants came  also  an  increase  in  volume.  The  total  immigra- 
tion to  the  United  States  from  1819  to  191 1  is  nearly  29,000,000 ; 
but  half  of  this  total  came  in  the  last  twenty  years,  and  in  the 
last  decade  the  annual  inflow  has  averaged  nearly  a  milhon  a 
year.  In  the  year  1907,  Austro-Hungary,  Italy,  and  Russia 
each  furnished  more  immigrants  than  all  the  northwestern 
countries  of  Europe  combined. 

Change  in  Character.  —  The  difference  between  the  immi- 

'  See  Immigration  Commission,  Abstract  of  Report  on  "Steerage  Legislation," 
p.  17. 

^  In  1876  emigrants  from  northwestern  Europe  formed  99  per  cent  and  those 
from  southeastern  i  per  cent;  in  1880  the  proportion  was  90  and  10  per  cent  re- 
spectively; in  1890  the  numbers  were  about  equal;  in  1907  the  figures  were  2$ 
and  75  respectively.  —  See  Table  11  in  addenda. 


INDUCEMENTS  TO  EMIGRATE 


5 


grants  from  northwestern  and  southeastern  Europe  is  marked. 
The  percentage  of  ilUteracy  among  the  former  is  small,  —  less 
than  3  per  cent,  —  among  the  latter  it  is  more  than  35.  The  num- 
ber of  skilled  workers  from  Great  Britain,  Scandinavia,  Germany, 
and  France  is  large ;  but  the  immigrants  from  Italy,  Austro- 
Hungary,  Russia,  and  the  Balkan  States  are  almost  wholly 
unskilled.  The  immigrants  from  the  first-mentioned  countries 
come  in  famiUes  to  make  America  their  home ;  a  large  percent- 
age of  those  from  the  last-mentioned  countries  come  alone, 
with  the  expectation  of  returning  to  the  fatherland  after  a  few 
years'  absence.  The  people  of  northwestern  Europe  brought 
with  them  religious  and  political  ideals  which  made  their  assimi- 
lation, comparatively  speaking,  an  easy  matter ;  but  the  peoples 
of  southeastern  Europe  in  these  respects  are  much  further  re- 
moved from  American  standards,  and  the  work  of  assimilation 
is  a  far  more  serious  task.  These  differences  justify  dividing 
European  immigrants  into  two  classes  —  the  northwestern  and 
the  southeastern ;  the  major  part  of  the  former  came  to  America 
previous  to  1890,  and  is  called  the  old  immigration;  while  the 
major  part  of  the  latter  came  since  that  year,  and  is  called  the 
new  immigration. 

Economic  Cause.  —  Chief  among  the  causes  of  this  phenom- 
enal inflow  of  European  peoples  is  the  economic.  The  farther 
east  we  move  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  the  greater  the  pov- 
erty and  wretchedness  of  the  people.  We  are  told  that  in  Bosnia 
and  Herzegovina,  and  in  the  Balkan  States  in  general,  fifty  per 
cent  of  the  people  suffer  the  want  of  food  in  winter.  An  Ameri- 
can, while  waiting  to  be  served  in  a  restaurant  in  southern 
Russia,  saw  a  hungry  man  rush  in,  snatch  the  food  placed  on 
an  adjoining  table,  and,  while  escaping,  gulp  it  down  as  a  fam- 
ished beast.  Miss  M.  E.  Durham,^  in  her  travels  in  the  Balkans, 
saw  depths  of  poverty  and  wretchedness  incredible  to  men  who 
have  lived  in  more  favored  countries.  Let  the  peoples  of  these 
impoverished  lands  hear  the  call  for  men  from  America,  learn  of 
the  high  rate  of  wages  paid  unskilled  labor,  and  the  lure  that 
attracts  hundreds  of  thousands  is  at  work.    The  great  motive 

»  "The  Burden  of  the  Balkans." 


6 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


power  which  has  forced  men  to  roam  in  all  ages  impels  the 
men  of  the  new  immigration  to  come  to  America.  They  seek 
a  better  country,  where  the  struggle  for  subsistence  is  not  as 
hard  and  the  fruits  of  one's  toil  are  more  secure.  But  while  ac- 
knowledging thiS;  we  should  not  overlook  the  fact  that  among 
the  new  immigrants  there  are  individuals  who  are  moved  to 
come  to  this  democracy  by  as  lofty  motives  as  ever  moved  the 
Puritan  Fathers, 

The  Ambitious  Come.  —  A  young  Italian,  Uving  in  Detroit, 
came  to  America  at  a  great  sacrifice.  His  father  placed  him 
in  a  religious  college  in  Europe,  and  mapped  out  his  studies  for 
one  of  the  professions.  His  young  soul  revolted  against  the 
management  of  the  college,  and  he  longed  for  freedom.  He 
heard  of  the  United  States,  and  resolved  to  escape  from  the 
institution.  He  made  his  way  to  one  of  the  ports,  and  then 
worked  for  his  transportation  over  the  sea  and  came  to  America. 
The  young  man  had  never  done  manual  labor,  but  he  had  the 
right  spirit  in  him,  and  was  ready  to  pay  the  price  of  liberty. 
He  began  work  for  thirty  dollars  a  month,  and  went  to  night 
school  to  study  Enghsh.  He  is  now  studying  law,  and  his  am- 
bition is  to  become  a  leader  among  his  people.  He  is  happy 
in  the  enjoyment  of  freedom.  In  a  lunchroom  in  New  York 
City  I  met  a  young  man  —  a  foreigner  —  serving  at  table.  I 
asked  him:  "Where  did  you  come  from?"  he  replied:  "From 
Russia  —  from  St.  Petersburg."  He  was  a  fine  fellow,  a  supe- 
rior kind  of  a  man,  fit  for  better  things  than  waiting  on  table ; 
and  in  an  apologetical  manner  he  said :  "  I  am  a  graduate  of 
the  gymnasium,  and  have  a  diploma  as  draughtsman,  but  I 
cannot  talk  English,  and  so  must  do  this  for  a  time."  "  Well, 
why  did  you  come  to  this  country?  "  "  I  wanted  more  educa- 
tion," was  his  reply,  "  and  I  am  going  to  one  of  the  colleges." 
He  is  now  in  college.  When  a  school  for  foreigners  was  started 
in  New  Brunswick,  N.J.,  a  dozen  young  men  came  together, 
two  of  whom  wanted  to  prepare  for  college  —  one  was  anxious 
to  perfect  himself  in  dentistry,  the  rudiments  of  which  art  he 
had  learned  in  Europe,  and  the  other  wanted  to  perfect  himself 
in  civil  engineering.    A  larger  piece  of  bread  and  butter  than 


INDUCEMENTS  TO  EMIGRATE 


1 


they  were  wont  to  have  in  Europe  is  not  the  craving  of  thou- 
sands of  youths  who  leave  the  old  for  the  new  world.  Their 
ambition  is  to  go  to  seats  of  higher  learning ;  but  in  Europe  the 
cost  as  well  as  their  social  status  is  prohibitive.  They  hear,  in 
the  old  country,  of  America  and  its  democratic  institutions,  and, 
turning  their  faces  to  the  west,  they  hope  to  realize  their  ambi- 
tion. And  to  the  glory  of  America  be  it  said  that  its  colleges 
and  universities  have  thrown  open  their  doors  to  thousands  of 
these  young  men,  who  are  zealously  improving  the  opportuni- 
ties offered  them. 

The  Persecuted  Come.  —  A  Pole,  not  long  ago,  settled  in 
Chicago.  He  was  a  teacher  in  Warsaw  —  a  specialist  in  teach- 
ing the  Polish  language.  His  activity  and  success  aroused  the 
suspicion  of  Russian  officials.  They  gave  him  notice  to  quit 
and  closed  his  school.  His  income  was  two  thousand  dollars 
a  year  —  a  handsome  income  in  Warsaw.  In  wrath  he  left 
the  city  and  came  to  America,  longing  for  a  country  where  he 
could  practice  his  art  without  molestation.  He  could  not  talk 
English,  but  began  to  study  it,  and  while  doing  so  worked  for 
a  dollar  and  a  half  a  day.  This  exile  still  works,  but  hopes  to 
become  a  professor.  His  wife  and  children  are  still  in  the  father- 
land, but  he  longs  for  the  day  when  he  can  bring  them  to  Amer- 
ica, the  land  of  freedom,  and  make  this  country  his  permanent 
home.  I  met  a  man  in  New  York  City  who  was  the  editor  of 
an  Esthonian  paper.  A  class  to  study  English  was  organized 
in  his  office,  of  which  he  and  twelve  other  men  were  students. 
After  one  of  the  lessons  the  teacher  sat  conversing  with  the  group 
that  was  rapidly  mastering  the  English  language.  During  the 
conversation,  one  of  the  men,  pointing  to  the  editor,  said :  "  If 
he  goes  back  to  Esthonia,  he'll  be  shot."  We  asked,  "Why?  " 
and  his  offense  was,  that  as  a  patriot  he  had  dared  write  some 
articles  against  the  Russian  government  and  its  policy  in  his 
native  country.  To  escape  Siberia  he  came  to  America.  I 
met  a  Russian,  in  Erie,  Pa.,  an  employee  in  a  foundry,  whose 
fine  stature  and  military  bearing  attracted  attention.  On  in- 
quiry who  that  man  was  the  following  story  was  told.  The 
man  belonged  to  the  Russian  army  and  was  assigned  to  duty 


8 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


in  Siberia.  He  had  charge  of  one  of  the  mines  in  which  several 
poUtical  prisoners  were  enslaved.  His  soul  was  stirred  within 
him  as  he  witnessed  their  toil  and  suffering.  He  conspired  to 
liberate  a  troop  of  these  martyrs,  but  in  doing  this  he  himself 
would  have  to  flee.  The  prisoners  made  good  their  escape,  and 
so  did  the  soldier  — -  all  came  to  America,  and  the  old  guard 
was  earning  his  bread  in  one  of  the  foundries  of  this  country. 
Was  there  any  one  in  Erie  who  fathomed  the  depths  of  that 
man's  soul,  who  had  risked  his  life  and  sacrificed  his  living  to 
save  his  fellow-men  from  a  fate  more  terrible  than  death  ?  In 
one  of  the  camps  of  New  York  State  two  Hebrews  worked. 
They  spoke  Hebrew  and  were  scholars,  for  they  had  taught  in 
one  of  the  colleges  of  Russia ;  but  they  were  suspected  of  being 
advocates  of  anarchy,  and  had  to  flee  if  they  valued  life  and  Ub- 
erty.  These  two  men  were  not  here  from  economic  reasons. 
Who  can  tell  how  many  among  a  million  men,  coming  to  North 
America,  emigrate  for  other  reasons  than  the  desire  to  get  more 
to  eat  and  wear  ?  Finland  and  Esthonia,  Lithuania  and  Poland, 
Dalmatia  and  Bosnia,  Slovakland  and  Croatia,  are  ruled  by 
foreign  sovereigns,  and  patriots  in  each  of  these  countries 
feel  keenly  the  heel  of  oppression;  when  they  speak  or  write 
against  the  powers  that  be,  they  are  spotted  men,  and  their 
peace  lies  in  fleeing  to  another  land,  where  freedom  of  speech 
and  freedom  of  the  press  is  the  heritage  of  all  its  sons. 

America  Attracts.  —  The  big  loaf  has  its  attraction,  but 
America  stands  for  much  more  than  enough  to  eat  and  to  drink. 
If  we  imagine  that  the  majority  of  immigrants  from  southeastern 
Europe  are  devoid  of  imagination  to  appreciate  the  freedom 
and  liberty,  the  education  and  the  industrial  organization, 
the  democratic  atmosphere  and  the  opportunities  America  has 
to  offer,  we  do  not  know  the  heart  of  the  foreigner.  Vallori 
says  ^  that  Italians  in  the  United  States  "  look  upon  their  own 
country  as  a  cruel  stepmother,  as  a  land  of  taxes,  miUtary  serv- 
ice, and  poUce,  and  associated  with  anarchists."  They  do 
this,  for  they  have  had  a  taste  of  better  things  in  America. 
They  have  enjoyed  the  blessings  of  a  higher  civilization,  and  we 

1  "Italian  Life  in  Town  and  Country,"  p.  115. 


INDUCEMENTS  TO  EMIGRATE 


9 


can  trust  them  to  write  of  these  in  the  milh'on  letters  that  go 
back  annually  to  the  fatherland. 

The  Land  of  Refuge.  —  In  a  factory  in  Concord  some  Ar- 
menians were  working.  In  conversation  with  the  superin- 
tendent he  told  us  of  a  Turk  whom  he  had  employed  a  few  weeks 
previous,  who  was  actually  driven  from  the  shop  by  the  Arme- 
nian employees.  The  manager  asked  the  leader  of  the  group 
why  they  drove  out  the  Turk  ;  the  Armenian  at  once  uncovered 
his  neck,  showed  a  hole  that  recorded  a  ghastly  wound,  and 
said :  "A  Turk  gave  me  that  and  I  can't  work  with  one  in  the 
same  shop."  While  visiting  an  Armenian  family  in  New  Britain, 
the  wife  told  me  of  the  cruel  murder  of  her  father  and  brother 
because  they  dared  to  believe  in  another  God  than  that  pro- 
claimed by  the  Mohammedan.  And  are  there  not  thousands 
now  in  North  America  whom  pious  rage  in  blackest  form  drove 
from  their  native  soil,  in  whose  brain  still  lingers  the  image  of 
the  mangled  corpse  of  their  loved  ones  —  murdered  by  Chris- 
tian hands  ?  These  fled  to  the  land  where  religious  freedom  is 
the  right  of  all,  where  they  enjoy  its  benign  influence,  after  a 
long  night  of  terror  that  stiU  cUngs  to  the  heart  like  a  hideous 
nightmare  when  one  awakens  from  sleep.  Let  not  the  economic 
argument  lose  any  of  its  importance,  but  to  impute  this  to  all 
immigrants  is  to  argue  that  man  can  Hve  by  bread  alone.  Mili- 
tarism, landlordism,  taxation,  espionage,  oppression,  rehgious 
persecution,  are  unpleasant  facts  to-day  in  southeastern  Euro- 
pean countries,  and  it  is  not  given  to  any  one  man  or  a  body  of 
men  to  say  how  far  political  and  religious  idealism  are  responsi- 
ble for  the  incoming  millions. 

Aspirations  and  Hopes.  —  The  new  immigration,  as  before 
stated,  differs  much  from  the  old.  The  people  of  southeastern 
Europe  are  poor,  iUiterate,  and  unskilled  as  compared  with 
those  of  the  Baltic  nations ;  they  have  lived  under  forms  of 
government  which  are  oppressive  and  autocratic,  their  religious 
concepts  differ  widely  from  those  of  nations  to  the  northwest; 
and  yet  these  men  of  the  new  immigration  have  aspirations 
and  hopes  much  like  the  immigrants  of  previous  generations. 
A  young  Persian  had  learned  something  of  America  and  its  in- 


10 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


stitutions,  and  his  prayer  was  "  O  my  heavenly  Father !  Let 
me  visit  the  country  whose  natives  are  enjoying  the  glories  and 
blessings  of  liberty  and  freedom  and  whose  hearts  are  full  of 
love  and  patriotism.  O  God,  let  the  blessed  day  come  when  I 
shall  kiss  the  shores  of  that  sacred  country  where  Washington 
fought  for  the  liberty  of  his  nation."  For  years  this  dream 
haunted  him.  At  last  he  reached  a  port  and  managed  to  get 
aboard  a  ship  going  to  France.  From  that  country  he  made 
his  way  to  the  United  States,  and  when  he  set  foot  on  land,  he 
fell  and  kissed  the  soil,  for  the  longing  of  his  soul  was  realized. 
When  Bulgaria,  in  1908,  was  breaking  the  last  links  in  the 
shackles  binding  it  to  the  Sultan,  and  the  Bulgarian  prince 
aspired  to  the  title  of  king,  10,000  of  these  people  were  in  the 
habit  of  assembling  on  Sundays  in  Granite  City,  IlUnois,  to  dis- 
cuss the  affairs  of  their  native  land,  to  pass  resolutions  in  behalf 
of  freedom,  and  subscribe  aid  to  the  cause  they  loved.  The 
Slovak  National  Society,  the  PoUsh  National  AlUance,  etc., 
have  carried  and  still  carry  on  agitation  in  Europe  in  defense 
of  freedom.  Their  influence  for  freedom  is  felt  in  legislative 
halls  of  Europe,  confounding  princes,  disturbing  autocrats, 
leavening  the  masses  with  new  ideas  of  the  rights  of  the  people 
and  social  justice.  These  men  are  moved  by  motives  which 
cannot  be  classified  under  the  category  of  bread  and  beef.  /A 
professor  in  Gahcia,  writing  of  the  benefit  America  confers 
upon  the  young  men  who  emigrate,  says  :  "  There  are  so  many 
good  quaUties  not  developed  in  our  European  conditions,  as 
the  spirit  of  intense  working,  the  incomparable  spirit  of  enter- 
prise, the  energy,  the  faculty  of  correct  observation,  the  re- 
sourcefulness, the  powerful  moral  sense,  the  spirit  of  civil  and 
human  duty,  the  wonderful  executive  abihty,  and  the  American 
schools."  These  are  things  which  perish  not  in  the  using, 
and  as  long  as  European  and  Asiatic  young  men  know  that 
they  can  enjoy  these  privileges  in  this  favored  land,  thousands 
will  leave  their  homes  in  quest  of  the  hght  to  be  obtained  in 
educational  and  industrial  institutions  developed  by  a  free 
governing  people  on  soil  which  knows  not  the  heritage  of  autoc- 
racy and  tyranny  burdening  older  countries. 


INDUCEMENTS  TO  EMIGRATE 


II 


The  Power  of  the  Letter.  —  The  most  potent  factor  in  swell- 
ing the  stream  of  immigration  are  the  letters  forwarded  to  the 
old  folks  at  home.  And  the  contents  of  these  millions  of  mis- 
sives sent  across  the  sea,  could  we  but  read  them,  would  reveal 
the  heart  of  the  foreigner  as  nothing  else  can.  Joseph,  one  of 
our  students,  wrote  to  his  brother,  Michael,  still  in  Russia,  and 
this  was  the  burden  of  his  letter :  "  Michael,  this  is  a  glorious 
country;  you  have  liberty  to  do  as  you  will.  You  can  read 
what  you  wish,  and  write  what  you  like,  and  talk  as  you  have  a 
mind  to,  and  no  one  arrests  you."  Every  fall  tens  of  thousands 
of  foreign-speaking  young  men  attend  night  schools  to  learn 
the  English  language,  and  the  instruction  is,  for  the  most  part, 
free.  Is  there  any  wonder  that  they  admire  our  public  schools 
and  praise  America's  institutions?  In  every  public  gallery  in 
our  large  cities,  foreign-speaking  visitors  are  conspicuous. 
Trolley  cars  and  trains,  steamboats  and  ferries,  on  holidays  and 
Sundays,  are  well  patronized  by  the  foreign-born.  They  enjoy 
themselves  and  feel  perfectly  free  to  do  so,  without  fear  of  mo- 
lestation. Our  parks  and  our  amusement  resorts  appeal  to 
them,  and  they  are  welcome  there.  America  means  perfect 
freedom  to  go  and  come  in  perfect  peace  —  a  thing  not  known 
in  southeastern  European  countries,  where  conventionality, 
usage,  social  status,  and  bureaucracy  prescribe  limitations 
which  weigh  heavily  upon  the  working  classes.  These  privi- 
leges, this  freedom,  this  democracy,  are  fully  described  in  the 
letter  sent  to  the  folks  in  the  fatherland,  and  it  fires  the  ambi- 
tion, quickens  the  hope,  and  strengthens  the  will,  of  thousands 
to  emigrate  that  they  also  may  enjoy  these  blessings.  The  silent 
letter  is  the  most  eloquent  advocate  of  emigration. 

Prosperity  Promotes.  —  The  letter  often  carries  news  of 
prosperity,  or,  better  still,  contains  a  present  to  the  folks  at 
home ;  then  its  charm  is  more  potent  than  a  hundred  agents  of 
steamship  companies  looking  out  for  business.  When  Jan 
Smyda  had  received  two  barrels  of  Hungarian  wine  from  his 
native  country,  I  asked  him,  "Where  did  you  get  it?"  He 
proudly  repHed,  "  From  my  farm."  He  had  bought  an  estate 
in  his  native  country  in  the  hope  of  spending  his  latter  days 


12 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


there  in  peace.  He  had  eight  children,  all  bom  in  America,  so 
when  it  came  to  a  vote  whether  or  not  they  would  settle  on  the 
farm  in  Hungary,  Jan  and  his  wife  were  outvoted,  and  the  farm 
was  turned  over  to  his  brother.  That  farm  was  one  of  the 
most  potent  agencies  in  stimulating  emigration.  Smyda  was 
the  son  of  a  farm  laborer.  His  father  owned  nothing  but  a  pair 
of  strong  hands.  Jan  came  to  this  country  on  borrowed  capital, 
and  spent  the  first  night  in  an  express  wagon,  for  he  did  not  have 
money  to  go  to  a  hotel.  But  he  had  the  elements  of  success  in 
him,  and  the  estate  he  bought  bore  testimony  to  the  fact  and 
proclaimed  it  to  all  within  a  hundred  miles  of  that  place. 
Thousands  of  others  had  emigrated  to  America  from  that 
neighborhood.  Some  of  them  had  been  heard  from  in  a  small 
way,  most  of  them  improved  their  circumstances,  but  the  pos- 
sibilities of  America  were  measured  by  Jan  Smyda's  success. 
"  Big  Sam  "  Uves  in  Pittsburgh.  He  is  a  Croatian,  and  is  chief 
of  the  Croatians  in  that  part  of  the  city  where  he  resides.  "  Big 
Sam  "  owned  a  saloon  and  was  prosperous.  As  he  led  us  to 
the  rear  of  the  building  where  the  family  lived,  we  passed  an 
aged  woman  at  the  hydrant,  and  Sam  said :  "This  is  my 
mother."  She  smiled  and  curtsied.  I  asked  him,  "  Are  all 
your  folks  here?  "  "  Yes,"  was  his  reply.  "  I  came  first,  and 
now  all  the  family  are  here,  and  not  only  that,  all  the  males 
among  our  relatives  have  come,  so  that  you  will  not  find  a  male 
Mamula  in  my  native  village  from  the  age  of  eighteen  to  fifty, 
they  are  all  in  America."  Sam  had  led  the  way  and  prospered; 
and  his  success  had  induced  others  to  follow. 

The  Gold  Stream.  —  This  stream  of  gold  —  the  measure  of 
the  thrift  of  the  immigrants — flowing  to  the  fatherland,  is  con- 
stantly referred  to  as  an  objection  against  the  new  immigration. 
Would  we  have  it  different  ?  How  can  these  young  men,  who 
come  to  us  in  the  heyday  of  their  strength,  pay  part  of  the 
debt  they  owe  to  home  and  fatherland,  save  by  sending  across 
the  sea  a  part  of  their  earnings  ?  Has  not  the  young  man,  who 
saves  his  hard  earnings  and  sends  a  part  of  it  to  father  or  mother 
in  Europe,  qualities  which  add  to  his  value  as  a  prospective 
member  of  our  family?    Thrift,  generosity,  and  fiUal  affection 


INDUCEMENTS  TO  EMIGRATE 


13 


are  qualities  we  cannot  get  too  much  of  in  our  land,  and  the 
thousands  of  young  men,  sending  money  across  the  sea,  and 
thus  in  part  discharging  their  obligation  to  parents,  are  practicing 
virtues  which  will  bring  forth  a  hundredfold  when  these  men 
found  homes  of  their  own  in  the  land  of  their  adoption. 

Birds  of  Passage.  —  There  are  thousands  of  other  immi- 
grants who  enter  and  never  think  of  becoming  members  of  our 
family ;  they  come  as  pilgrims  —  for  a  season,  work  here  and 
there,  accumulate  a  few  hundred  dollars,  and  then  return  to 
their  families.  These  are  "  birds  of  passage, "  and  come  from 
the  countries  bordering  the  United  States  north  and  south,  and 
also  from  European  countries.  It  is  commonly  said  that  these 
men  are  no  benefit  to  the  country.  The  young  man  who  comes 
to  stay  and  found  a  family,  although  he  sends  money  to  his 
parents  for  a  few  years,  will  ultimately  add  to  the  strength  of 
the  nation ;  but  the  "  birds  of  passage  "  go  out  themselves  and 
take  their  savings  with  them.  The  sum  each  man  takes  out 
may  not  be  much,  but  the  total  amount  runs  up  to  the  millions ; 
this  is  a  loss  to  the  country.  In  this  connection  it  is  well  to 
recall  the  truth  established  when  the  old  Physiocratic  fallacy 
regarding  the  importance  of  gold  to  national  prosperity  was 
discussed,  namely,  that  the  prosperity  of  a  country  does  not 
consist  in  the  amount  of  gold  it  has,  but  rather  in  the  amount 
of  capital  goods  used  in  the  production  of  wealth  and  in  the 
freedom  of  trade  and  communication.  If  this  truth  holds  good 
in  the  twentieth  century — and  no  economist  disputes  it  — 
then  the  men  who  have  worked  in  mill  and  mine,  in  factory  and 
shop,  helping  us  to  produce  the  sum  total  of  the  wealth  of  the 
nation,  by  going  out  of  the  country,  taking  their  savings  with 
them,  have  not  left  us  poorer,  but  rather  richer.  We  have 
more  to  enjoy  and  additional  tools  to  produce  more  wealth 
because  of  their  tarrying  with  us  for  a  season.  The  Hudson 
Tunnel  is  an  asset  to  New  York  City,  it  is  an  invaluable 
agency  in  the  production  of  wealth ;  and  the  Italians  who  dug 
it,  if  all  of  them  had  returned  to  Italy  with  their  savings, 
would  have  enriched  us  by  their  toil. 

Do  We  Get  Too  Many?  —  Are  there  too  many  immigrants 


14 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


coming?  North  America  —  Canada  and  the  United  States  — 
comprises  some  seven  million  square  miles  of  territory,  and  the 
total  population  is  a  little  over  one  hundred  million.  That  is, 
this  continent,  so  highly  blessed  of  God  with  boundless  wealth 
and  possibilities,  has  about  fifteen  persons  to  the  square  mile. 
When  the  Indians  possessed  the  land,  they  were  less  than  one 
to  the  square  mile,  and  they  thought  there  was  no  room  for 
immigrants. 1  We  have  justified  our  coming  by  saying  that  a 
hundred  nulUon  persons  using  the  seven  mQUon  square  rmles 
is  a  better  use  of  God's  gift  to  man  than  the  use  made  of  it  by 
the  Indians.  Have  we  come  to  the  limit  of  the  subsistence  of 
this  part  of  the  earth  now  enjoyed  by  us?  Is  fifteen  to  the 
square  mile  all  this  favored  land  can  support?  Professor  W  J 
McGee  says  not.^  The  coimtries  from  which  we  get  the  best 
class  of  immigrants  have  from  200  to  590  per  square  mile,  and 
the  sustaining  power  of  the  soil  of  America  is  estimated  to  be 
500  to  the  square  rmle.  We  have  shamefully  wasted  the  re- 
sources of  mountain  and  plain,  forest  and  river,  regardless  of 
the  claims  of  future  generations.  Our  system  of  agriculture 
has  cursed  rather  than  blessed  the  land.  We  have  abused  the 
bounties  of  Providence  and  closed  the  door  against  those  who 
would  gather  the  crumbs  that  fall  from  our  tables.  Have 
we  any  moral  right  to  do  this,  any  more  than  the  Indians  had 
when  they  tried  to  close  the  door  against  the  white  men?  We 
have  a  continent  to  subdue,  and  the  wealth  in  mountain  and 
stream  is  given  of  God  to  man  and  not  to  Anglo-Saxon,  Teuton, 
or  Kelt.  The  Southern  states  and  those  of  the  Pacific  Coast 
suffer  for  the  want  of  men,  and  they  can  take  a  million  a  year  for 

'  Professor  W  J  McGee  estimates  that  the  aboriginal  huntsmen  occupying  "what  is 
now  the  mainland  United  States,  were  not  over  2,500,000  (perhaps  not  more  than 
1,250,000),  or  much  less  than  one  per  square  mile." — -"Soil  Erosion,"  U.S. 
Department  of  Agriculture,  Bulletin  No.  71,  p.  24. 

•  "A  five-acre  farm  supplied  with,  say,  five  feet  of  water,  suffices  for  a  family  of 
five,  or  an  inhabitant  per  acre  (cities  balancing  more  barren  tracts) ;  and  on  this 
basis  the  5,000,000  acre-feet,  constituting  the  total  yearly  water  supply  of  mainland 
United  States,  would  suffice  for  a  population  of  about  1,000,000,000,  which  at  the 
current  rate  of  Increase  will  be  reached  in  some  three  centuries,  i.e.  a  future  span 
equal  to  that  passed  since  the  Pilgrims  landed  on  Plymouth  Rock."  —  "Soil 
Erosion"  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  Bulletin  No.  71,  p.  14. 


INDUCEMENTS  TO  EMIGRATE 


15 


the  next  decade,  and  yet  there  will  be  room  for  millions  more. 
We  need  better  distributing  facilities ;  but  to  say  that  the  land 
is  too  full  is  to  talk  without  knowledge  of  the  facts.  Moreover, 
we  would  look  in  vain  for  an  American  who  is  not  proud  of  the 
fact  that  the  nation  numbers  100,000,000  and  every  city  in  the 
Union  that  doubled  its  population  in  the  last  decade  advertises 
the  fact  and  boasts  of  its  growth.  The  foreign-born  immigrant 
is  an  essential  factor  in  the  increase  of  population,  and  if  our 
ambition  is  to  be  a  strong  and  powerful  people,  the  contribution 
made  by  European  nations  should  not  produce  qualms. 

Is  the  Stock  Poor  ?  —  Are  we  getting  poor  stock  —  men  who 
are  degenerate,  diseased,  \icious,  criminal,  etc.  ?  Let  us  hear 
what  the  Immigration  Commission  has  to  say  upon  this  point. 
"  The  present-day  emigration  from  Europe  to  the  United  States 
is  for  the  most  part  drawn  from  country  districts  and  smaller 
cities  or  villages,  and  is  composed  largely  of  the  peasantry  and 
imskilled  laboring  classes  .  .  .  the  present  movement  is  not 
recruited  in  the  main  from  the  lowest  economic  and  social 
strata  of  the  population  .  .  .  (it)  represents  the  stronger  and 
the  better  element  of  the  particular  class  from  which  it  is 
drawn."  ^  Furthermore  we  carmot  be  receixang  the  poorest 
of  European  races  if  the  laws  regulating  the  admission  of  immi- 
grants are  enforced.  "  Idiots,  insane  persons,  epileptics,  and 
those  suffering  from  a  loathsome  or  a  dangerous,  contagious 
disease  "  are  excluded  by  law,  and  the  physicians  carefully 
examine  every  applicant  for  admission ;  if  the  physical  condi- 
tion of  an  immigrant  is  such  that  he  cannot,  in  the  doctor's 
judgment,  earn  a  Ux-ing,  he  is  marked  "  low  \-itahty  "  or  "  poor 
physique,"  and  is  excluded.  Any  one  x-isiting  Ellis  Island  and 
watching  the  care  with  which  the  surgeons  do  their  work  will 
not  assert  that  we  are  getting  a  degenerated  and  diseased  stock. 
By  the  sifting  process  more  than  fifty  thousand  have  been  sent 

'Abstract  of  Report  on  "Emigration  Conditions  in  Europe,"  pp.  11-12.  This 
opinion  of  the  Commission  is  very  different  from  that  recently  expressed  by 
Prescott  T.  Hall,  who  says :  "  They  are  the  defective  and  deUnquent  classes  of 
Europe  —  the  individuals  who  have  not  been  able  to  keep  the  pace  at  home  and 
have  fallen  into  the  lower  strata  of  its  civilization."  North  America  Review, 
January,  1912. 


i6 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


back  in  the  last  decade,  and  twofold  that  number  was  rejected 
by  the  sifting  process  instituted  on  the  Continent  by  the  ship- 
ping companies  and  the  governments  of  Europe.^  And  this  is 
not  the  only  sifting  process.  No  sooner  is  the  immigrant 
admitted  than  he  is  put  to  the  test  by  our  industrial  organiza- 
tion.2  The  strain  and  stress  found  in  our  mills  and  mines,  in 
our  shops  and  factories,  are  not  met  with  in  any  other  country. 
Thousands  of  foreigners  every  year  fail  in  the  test,  and  turn 
their  faces  homeward  as  soon  as  they  can  get  money  to  pay 
transportation,  and  many  of  them  go  without  paying  for  it. 
A  young  Russian,  apparently  strong  and  well  built,  came  to 
my  office  recently,  and  his  plea  was  to  be  sent  back  home.  He 
had  no  money,  neither  did  he  have  the  heart  to  go  to  earn  it 
in  any  industrial  plant.  That  man  had  tried  and  failed.  A 
doctor  examined  him,  and  said,  "  He's  sound  in  every  way  "  — 
he  was  afraid  and  could  not  stand  the  stress  incident  to  Ameri- 
can labor.  He  represented  thousands  more.  How  often  have 
we  heard  that  the  twenty-eight  per  cent  returning  are  those 
who  have  made  their  "  pile  "  and  are  going  back  to  enjoy  it. 
If  this  were  true,  no  true  American  would  object ;  but  it  is  not 
the  fact.    Among  the  throng  are  the  unfit,  weeded  out  by  our 

'  Few  people  in  America  have  any  idea  of  the  weeding  process  going  on  in  Europe 
before  emigrants  can  secure  a  berth  on  a  ship.  The  German  government  has 
thirteen  frontier  stations,  and  during  the  year  ending  in  June,  1907,  turned  back 
11,814  out  of  455,916  intended  emigrants.  The  Austro-American  Company  has 
a  physician  at  each  of  its  subagencies  in  Greece,  and  the  emigrant  must  have  a  medi- 
cal certificate  before  he  can  be  booked,  and  before  he  goes  on  board  the  chief  phy- 
sician at  the  port  of  embarkation  must  pass  upon  him.  "In  ordinary  years  at 
least  four  intending  emigrants  are  turned  back  by  the  steamship  companies  before 
leaving  a  European  port  to  one  debarred  at  United  States  ports  of  arrival."  In 
a  period  of  thirteen  months  S30i  more  emigrants  were  turned  back  at  European 
ports  than  were  debarred  at  United  States  ports  in  three  years  ( 1907-1909) ,  and  besides 
the  39,68i  refused  berths  in  eighteen  ports,  it  is  estimated  that  another  1 1,000 
were  turned  back  at  the  remaining  ten  ports  not  reporting.  —  See  pages  37-41,  Immi- 
gration Commission  Abstract  Report  on  "Emigration  Conditions  in  Europe." 

'  The  Immigration  Commission,  commenting  on  the  stream  of  young  men  going 
back  to  Europe  each  year,  says:  "  It  is  not  due  to  lack  of  opportunity  for  employ- 
ment .  .  .  the  movement  is  due  to  various  causes,  including  dissatisfaction,  ill  health, 
the  desire  to  rejoin  family  and  friends,  and  the  fulfillment  of  an  ambition  to  possess 
a  sufficient  amount  of  money  to  make  Ufe  at  home  less  of  a  struggle. "  —  Page  26, 
"Emigration  Conditions  in  Europe."  See  also  note  in  addenda  on  Returning  Immi- 
grants. 


INDUCEMENTS  TO  EMIGRATE 


17 


industrial  system,  and  they  go  back  to  Europe  where  the  drive 
and  hurry  of  American  Hfe  are  not  found.^  If  North  Americans 
deal  justly,  execute  impartially  the  present  immigration  laws, 
attend  more  carefully  to  the  work  of  distribution,  the  incoming 
stream  will  in  future,  as  in  the  past,  be  of  incalculable  value  to 
the  country.  Of  course,  there  will  be  some  tares  among  the 
wheat,  but  taking  the  people  as  a  whole,  they,  under  just  and 
impartial  administration,  will  be  a  source  of  strength  and  wealth 
to  the  nation. 

Good  Qualities.  —  No  quality  that  adds  to  the  dignity  of 
manhood  is  wanting  in  the  new  immigration.  Courage,  pa- 
tience, self-sacrifice,  thrift,  generosity,  filial  affection,  obedience, 
ambition,  aspiration,  love  of  personal  liberty,  longing  for  free- 
dom of  the  press,  of  speech,  and  of  religion,  —  all  these  quali- 
ties and  concepts  are  met  with  to-day  in  many  immigrants  from 
southeastern  Europe.  To  believe  otherwise  is  a  twofold  wrong, 
—  a  wrong  to  the  immigrant  and  a  greater  wrong  to  ourselves. 
Idealism  has  of  old  been  a  quality  inherent  in  many  of  these 
people ;  if  we  beHeve  that  many  of  these  men  are  here  in  quest 
of  higher  things  than  the  dollar,  we  will  find  in  them  "  Coming 
Americans,"  and  they  will  help  to  leaven  the  foreign  colony 
with  American  ideas  and  ideals. 

'  Herbert  Francis  Sherwood,  who  accompanied  the  Federal  Immigration  Com- 
mission on  its  European  tour,  writes :  "  The  fact  that  sixty-eight,  or  more  than 
one  fifth  of  those  on  the  Canopic,  were  leaving  America  because  they  were  siclc, 
taken  with  corroborating  facts  gleaned  elsewhere,  indicates  that  a  portion  of  the 
normal  eastward  movement  is  .  a  self-elimination  of  the  unfit  from  our  working 
force."  —  "  The  Ebb  of  the  Immigration  Tide,"  Review  oj  Reviews,  December,  191 1. 


C 


CHAPTER  II 


THE  TRIALS  AT  THE  GATE 

The  detention  of  immigrants  in  Ellis  Island  is  fraught  with 
many  hardships.  All  the  detained  bewail  their  misfortune; 
hundreds  of  them  are  bitter  and  resentful.  The  following  letter 
received  from  one  of  these  unfortimates  is  representative : 
"  We  are  two  young  men,  brothers,  who  suffer  here  very  much 
for  nothing.  I  had  been  in  this  country  for  ten  years,  and  last 
October  went  to  Brussells  to  see  my  parents.  I  brought  my 
brother  with  me  to  put  him  in  an  American  school.  The  immi- 
gration authorities  excluded  us.  After  three  days  they  called 
us  and  they  said  we  could  stay  if  we  appealed  to  the  Commis- 
sioner. We  wrote  an  appeal,  but  after  he  put  us  in  jail  between 
300  and  400  men  we  did  not  hear  from  him  since  [twelve  days 
later].  We  stay  in  the  same  place  until  now  helpless.  They 
feed  us  poorly  and  sleep  on  beds  which  even  those  who  committed 
crimes  don't  use.  Living  under  such  circumstances,  we  become 
sick  both  of  us.  We  wish  to  go  back  or  to  be  let  free,  otherwise 
we  sure  will  lose  our  health  forever."  We  have  heard  some- 
thing of  the  crowded  condition  of  Ellis  Island,  but  the  half  has 
not  been  told.  A  recent  immigrant  says :  "  Immigrants  ar- 
riving at  ElUs  Island  are  crowded  in  pens  by  day  and  at  night 
sleep  on  iron  shelves." 

Ellis  Island.  —  Accommodations  on  the  Island  have  been  en- 
larged, but  they  are  still  inadequate  when  the  immigration  in- 
flow is  high.  If  in  one  day  twenty-three  himdred  souls  are 
detained  and  packed  into  the  detention  rooms,  we  are  safe  in 
saying  that  no  part  of  New  York  City  is  more  congested  than 
the  rooms  these  occupy  on  Ellis  Island.^    This  is  not  due  to  the 

'"Frequently  there  are  as  many  as  1800  or  2000,  and  yet  there  are  on  Ellis 
Island  not  over  1800  beds,  almost  all  in  tiers  of  three  each.  In  the  largest  men's 
dormitory  the  beds  number  432,  and  the  width  of  the  passageway  between  each 

18 


THE  TRIALS  AT  THE  GATE 


19 


men  in  charge  of  the  station ;  it  is  an  inevitable  condition  because 
of  the  want  of  adequate  space  to  meet  the  need.  The  accom- 
modations furnished  are  limited.  When  the  number  of  the 
detained  passes  beyond  a  thousand,  there  is  congestion  and 
consequent  suffering.  The  air  in  the  room  where  three  hundred 
men  are  kept  is  foul  and  sickening.  The  government  has  tried 
to  remedy  this  by  installing  suction  fans,  but  the  effort  is  not 
successful.  When  himdreds  of  persons  breathe  continuously 
in  the  same  room,  a  very  effectual  system  of  ventilation  must 
be  installed  to  keep  the  air  sweet.  Proper  ventilation  is  as 
much  the  letting  in  of  fresh  as  it  is  the  removing  of  foul  air, 
and  the  appliances  to  do  this  are  wanting  in  the  construction 
of  the  detention  quarters  on  the  Island.  The  present  Immi- 
gration Commissioner,  as  well  as  his  predecessors,  is  doing  the 
best  he  can  with  the  equipment  at  his  command ;  and  before  he 
or  any  other  man  can  provide  adequate  accommodations  to  the 
detained,  when  immigration  brings  more  than  100,000  per 
month,  Congress  must  be  more  liberal  in  its  appropriations,  so 
that  the  necessary  additions  and  improvements  may  be  made.^ 
Personal  Cleanliness.  —  Every  time  one  visits  the  deten- 
tion rooms,  he  feels  that  a  system  of  enforced  personal  cleanli- 
ness, such  as  is  carried  on  in  the  Municipal  Lodging  House, 
would  be  a  blessing.  Bathing  facilities  are  furnished  the  de- 
tained, but  very  few  avail  themselves  of  them.  All  classes  and 
conditions  of  steerage  passengers  are  herded  together  in  one 
room  —  the  men  in  the  room  to  the  east,  women  and  children 

line  of  tiers  is  only  2  feet.  When  all  the  beds  are  occupied,  as  frequently  they 
are,  the  congestion  in  this  room  is  very  great,  and  since  it  has  only  an  easterly  ex- 
posure the  temperature  on  summer  nights  may  be  ioo°. 

"  In  addition  the  ventilation  is  very  imperfect.  Unfortunately  it  is  necessary  to 
use  it  also  as  a  day  room,  though  being  encumbered  with  beds  it  is  obviously  in- 
appropriate for  this  purpose.  It  is  often  necessary  to  detain  occupants  of  this 
room  a  week,  especially  those  who  are  excluded,  since  the  lines  bringing  them 
usually  send  out  their  steamers  only  once  a  week.  The  conditions  in  the  other 
large  dormitories  are  not  unlike  those  just  described."  —  Pages  4-5,  Annual  Re- 
port of  the  Commissioner  of  Immigration  for  the  Port  of  New  York. 

'  Hon.  William  Williams,  Commissioner  of  Immigration  at  Ellis  Island,  has 
asked  Congress  for  an  appropriation  of  $788,000  for  improvements  necessary  for 
efl&cient  service  in  Ellis  Island.    See  Annual  Report,  191 1. 


20 


TEE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


in  that  to  the  west.  The  garments  they  wear  are  those  they 
wore  on  the  voyage,  and  that  pecuhar,  reeking  stench  of  steerage 
compartments  still  clings  to  them.  There  are  accommodations 
furnished  to  wash  clothes,  but  few  of  the  immigrants  have  with 
them  a  change  of  apparel,  so  that  it  is  impossible  for  them  to 
put  on  clean  garments.  The  men  do  not  undress  as  they  retire 
for  the  night  —  all  they  do  is  to  remove  their  shoes,  after  the 
custom  of  southeastern  peoples.  When  crowding  occurs,  the 
same  room  is  occupied  day  and  night.  The  combination  of 
odors  of  twenty  different  nations  is  demoralizing,  and  the  effect 
upon  the  weak  and  nervous  is  serious.  Men  are  detained  in 
these  rooms  from  ten  days  to  as  many  weeks.  Most  of  them 
have  not  the  faintest  idea  as  to  the  value  of  personal  cleanliness, 
or  the  necessity  of  a  change  of  garments,  or  the  need  of  keeping 
the  room  clean.  The  installation  of  a  system  of  compulsory 
bathing,  provision  for  a  change  of  garments,  and  a  more  thor- 
ough cleansing  and  disinfecting  of  their  clothes  would  impress 
these  thousands  with  the  idea  that  America  stands  for  cleanli- 
ness in  person  and  garment. 

Bitter  Complaints.  —  Of  all  the  detained,  the  men  from 
northwestern  Europe  are  loudest  and  bitterest  in  their  com- 
plaints. A  young  English  artist,  who  was  in  straitened  cir- 
cumstances, arrived  and  was  detained  for  a  week  vmder  the 
Contract  Labor  Law.  His  lot  was  cast  in  one  large  room  among 
hundreds  of  foreign-speaking  men  of  varied  ranks  and  condi- 
tions. It  was  all  he  covild  do  to  stand  this  confinement  without 
getting  sick.  His  question  was :  "  Is  this  the  reception  America 
gives  Englishmen  —  to  be  imprisoned  with  unwashed  foreigners 
in  a  room  where  the  air  is  foul  and  sickening  ?  When  at  evening 
they  take  off  their  shoes,  it's  almost  beyond  endurance.  I  stand 
by  the  window,  and  spend  most  of  the  night  out  of  the  berth." 
I  remember  a  woman,  well-dressed  and  respectable,  crying 
bitterly  because  she  was  detained.  She  protested  most  vigor- 
ously to  "  being  put  in  the  same  room  with  Italians,  Jews,  etc., 
to  sleep  with  them  and  to  eat  at  the  same  table ;  why  could  she 
not  go  to  New  York  City?  She  had  taken  care  of  herself 
in  London  and  Melbourne,  and  was  able  to  do  so  here."  Scores 


THE  TRIALS  AT  THE  GATE 


21 


of  English-speaking  people  thus  detained  protest  vehemently 
against  the  promiscuous  mingling  of  races.  Scandinavians  and 
Germans  also  complain.  The  standards  of  northwestern 
Europeans  differ  widely  from  those  of  southeastern  Europeans, 
and  they  will  not  dwell  amicably  together.  If  ample  room 
were  provided,  a  segregration  according  to  similarity  of  tastes 
might  be  possible.^  Detention  at  best  is  irksome,  and  immi- 
grants having  pride  of  race  highly  developed  will  complain; 
but  it  is  important  that  the  quarters  wherein  they  are  detained 
—  be  their  race  whatever  it  will  —  should  not  be  a  menace  to 
health. 

Deportation  for  Trivial  Causes.  —  The  work  of  deportation  is 
accompanied  by  many  hardships.  Some  men  are  turned  back 
for  very  trivial  causes.  Four  Greeks  came  from  Patras,  a 
distance  of  more  than  4500  miles,  and  their  destination  was 
Canada.  The  law  of  that  country  demands  that  each  immi- 
grant going  to  a  city  in  the  Dominion  must  have  $25  over  and 
above  transportation  to  destination.  Each  of  these  men  had 
$24.37,  ^-i^d  the  four  were  rejected.  A  score  of  men,  learning 
of  their  difficulty,  would  have  gladly  supplied  the  deficiency, 
but  no,  they  could  not  enter.  It  was  suggested  that  they  apply 
for  entrance  into  the  United  States,  and  one  of  the  officials  was 
consulted.  His  reply  was :  "  We  don't  take  Canada's  rejected." 
The  men  were  deported  for  want  of  the  sixty-three  cents  each, 
although  they  were  admissible  in  every  other  respect.  The  law 
of  the  United  States  does  not  specify  any  special  sum  which  the 
immigrant  must  have ;  but  those  who  have  little  money  and  no 
friends  are  deported  —  the  plea  advanced  is,  that  they  are  liable  to 
become  public  charges,  and  have  no  visible  means  of  subsistence. 
Immigrants  who  only  lack  money  are  sent  to  the  temporary  de- 
tained rooms.  If  they  can  find  a  relative  who  can  become  their 
security,  or  who  will  advance  them  a  reasonable  sum  of  money, 

' "  It  is  also  to  be  remembered  that  the  habits  of  some  immigrants  are  cleanly, 
of  others  filthy.  The  two  kinds  object  seriously  to  detention  in  the  same  room, 
and  those  of  cleanly  habits  often  say  unpleasant  things  of  the  others,  yet  we  are 
unable,  for  lack  of  space,  to  separate  them  as  they  should  be  separated."  — 
Pages  4-s,  Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Immigration  for  the  Port  of 
New  York. 


22 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


they  will  be  admitted.  A  young  Pole,  eighteen  years  of  age, 
who  wanted  to  go  to  his  brother  in  Weston,  Pa.,  was  detained 
for  the  want  of  money.  He  was  a  fine-looking  man,  and  would 
land  if  he  had  some  cash.  Many  persons  were  anxious  to  help 
him,  but  there  were  four  Westons  in  Pennsylvania,  and  the 
question  was,  to  which  of  these  is  he  destined?  Four  letters 
were  written,  one  to  each  of  the  four  Westons.  Six  days  passed 
by  and  no  reply  was  received.  The  representative  of  the 
Government  Employment  Bureau  visited  the  room  and  offered 
the  young  man  work.  He  demurred,  and  said  he  wanted  to  go 
to  his  brother.  On  the  seventh  day  he  was  removed  to  the 
deportation  room  to  be  sent  back  to  Europe.  That  day  word 
was  received  from  his  brother,  and  the  young  man  was  saved, 
just  in  the  nick  of  time,  from  deportation. 

Mistakes  of  Others.  —  Some  men  are  detained  because  of 
the  mistakes  of  others.  A  young  immigrant,  who  had  $30  in 
his  possession,  entrusted  it  to  the  purser  of  the  ship  in  which 
he  came.  The  ofl&cer  forgot  to  return  the  money,  and  the  man 
was  detained  on  the  charge  "  no  money."  His  story  was  be- 
lieved by  one  of  the  missionary  agents  on  the  Island,  and  the 
case  was  taken  up  with  the  captain  of  the  steamship.  The 
facts  as  stated  by  the  man  were  true,  the  cash  returned,  and 
the  immigrant  landed.  Another  young  man  was  one  day 
found  in  great  distress.  He  had  $20  in  foreign  money,  which 
he  gave  to  a  friend  to  change  for  him.  The  one  was  going  to 
New  York  and  the  other  to  Chicago.  They  were  separated,  and 
the  distressed  young  immigrant  in  the  railroad  room  realized 
his  plight  —  penniless  and  a  thousand-mile  journey  before  him. 
Again  a  missionary  agent  came  to  the  rescue.  He  ran  to  the 
package  boat  about  to  start  for  the  Battery,  called  out  the  name 
of  the  man,  secured  the  cash,  and  returned  it  to  its  rightful 
owner.  Another  man  was  threatened  with  detention  because 
he  had  lost  his  railroad  ticket.  A  thorough  search  was  made  in 
the  immigrant  railroad  room,  but  to  no  purpose.  He  was  going 
to  Johnstown,  and  was  given  the  choice  of  either  purchasing 
another  ticket  or  going  back  to  the  detention  rooms.  There  was 
no  way  to  help  the  poor  man,  and  from  his  scant  supply  of  cash 


THE  TRIALS  AT  THE  GATE 


23 


he  had  to  pay  $10.50  so  that  he  might  continue  his  journey.  A 
Bulgarian  was  found  in  the  detention  room  for  the  reason  that, 
in  his  confusion  when  before  the  inspector,  he  could  not  tell  where 
he  was  going.^  A  missionary  sat  with  him  a  little  while,  and  soon 
the  address  was  found.  The  case  was  explained  to  the  proper 
authority,  and  the  man  was  landed.  Three  men  w'ere  found  in 
the  temporary  detained  quarters,  because  they  did  not  have  their 
medical  cards.  The  ship  ofl&cials  had  neglected  to  give  these  to 
them.  The  cards  were  procured,  but  the  men  lost  three  days'  time 
through  no  fault  of  their  own.  A  young  Greek  boy  was  coming 
to  his  brother.  The  agent  who  booked  him  advised  the  lad 
to  say  that  he  was  going  to  his  father.  He  did  so.  A  telegram 
was  sent  to  his  father,  but  when  the  reply  came  the  sender  stated 
that  he  was  not  his  father,  but  his  brother.  The  boy  was  de- 
ported on  the  ground  of  moral  turpitude. 

Some  are  Robbed.  —  Sometimes  an  immigrant  is  robbed  of 
all  his  money  on  the  voyage.  A  young  man  had  200  francs 
stolen  from  him  on  board.  He  was  detained  for  the  want  of 
money.  He  immediately  commimicated  with  his  relatives,  and 
after  three  days'  delay  was  on  his  way  to  his  brother.  The 
most  touching  cases  are  those  of  mothers,  with  little  children, 
waiting  word  from  their  husbands  inland,  so  that  they  may 
proceed.  One  of  these,  a  Swedish  mother  and  four  children, 
lost  her  money  and  the  trunk  in  which  the  children's  clothes 
were  kept  —  all  the  garments  the  little  ones  possessed  were 
gone,  and  a  long  journey  to  the  northwest  awaited  them.  The 
mother  was  helpless  and  in  great  distress,  but  the  matron  on 
the  Island,  together  with  missionaries,  came  to  her  aid.  Proper 
clothing  was  secured,  and  kind-hearted  friends  contributed 
sufficient  money  to  enable  her  to  continue  the  journey. 

Trsring  to  Escape.  —  Immigrants  are  generally  willing  to  do 
all  in  their  power  to  get  off  the  Island.  It  is  called  the 
"  prison,"  and  many  are  the  tears  shed  by  those  who  have  no 
hope.    The  officials  on  the  Island  tell  of  a  Russian  who  made  a 

'  All  immigrants  must  have  an  address  or  destination,  and  of  the  new  immigra- 
tion 97  per  cent  of  the  total  admitted  were  destined  to  relatives  and  friends,  and 
of  the  old  immigration  89.4  per  cent.  —  "  Emigration  Conditions  in  Europe,"  p.  30. 


24 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


dash  for  liberty.  He  escaped  the  vigilance  of  the  guard,  plunged 
into  the  water,  and  swam  to  the  Jersey  shore.  He  was  captured 
and  deported,  being  afflicted  with  a  disease  which  debarred  his 
landing.  Once  on  the  Island,  the  chances  of  escape  are  few. 
Each  must  pass  the  examination  prescribed  by  the  government, 
and  many  are  the  friends  who  are  divided.  Two  bosom  friends 
may  cross  the  ocean ;  the  one  lands  and  the  other  is  debarred. 
This  is  touching  at  all  times,  but  when  one  child  in  a  family 
cannot  enter,  and  all  the  members  are  hoping  against  hope  — 
then  heart-rending  cases  occur. 

A  Sad  Case.  —  A  sad  case  was  that  of  a  woman  with  two 
children  from  the  Barbadoes.  She  was  detained  for  the  reason 
that  her  husband  did  not  accompany  her.  Before  she  could 
be  deported,  her  two  children  were  taken  to  the  hospital  with 
diphtheria,  and  for  six  weeks  they  were  under  the  care  of  physi- 
cians. They  were  discharged,  and  mother  and  children  were 
ready  to  leave.  Before  they  started,  however,  the  children  came 
down  again  with  scarlet  fever,  and  were  taken  once  more  to  the 
hospital.  One  of  the  little  ones  died,  and  after  another  six  weeks 
the  other  was  discharged.  Again  they  prepared  to  sail,  but 
before  the  boat  started  the  mother  was  taken  to  the  hospital, 
and  there  gave  birth  to  a  child.  When  she  was  discharged,  the 
husband  wired  that  he  was  on  his  way,  so  she  and  her  children 
waited  his  coming.  He  took  his  wife  and  children  from  EUis 
Island,  where  they  had  lived  five  months. 

Mothers  Suffer.  —  When  a  child  is  taken  down  with  a  con- 
tagious disease,  and  removed  to  the  special  hospital  for  these 
cases,  the  mother  endures  a  trying  ordeal.  She  cannot  go  to 
the  child,  she  cannot  give  him  a  drink  of  cold  water,  she  cannot 
say  a  cheering  word  to  the  child  of  her  bosom  —  all  she  can  do 
is  to  wait,  and  wait,  and  wait,  and  the  hours  are  long,  and  the 
days  pass  so  slowly.  One  of  these  mothers,  on  her  way  to  join 
her  husband  in  Minnesota,  waited  for  two  months  for  the  re- 
turn of  her  child ;  at  last  he  came,  and  both  mother  and  child 
joined  the  father.  But  when  they  don't  come  back,  and  the 
weeping  mother  has  to  go  without  the  child  of  her  love  —  then 
the  heart  alone  knows  its  bitterness. 


THE  TRIALS  AT  THE  GATE 


25 


A  Family  Divided.  —  To  see  a  family  divided  is  a  sight  few 
want  to  witness.  Almost  every  mother  with  children  crossing 
the  ocean  does  so  to  join  her  husband.  One  of  these  came  with 
four  children,  one  of  whom  was  pronounced  mentally  weak  and 
could  not  enter.  The  mother  and  the  other  three  were  phys- 
ically sound,  but  deportation  was  the  lot  of  the  youngest  child. 
What  would  she  do,  go  to  her  husband  in  the  West,  or  return  to 
her  native  country  with  her  child?  She  chose  the  former. 
When  the  hour  of  parting  came,  it  was  pitiful  to  see  the  mother 
clinging  to  that  little  weak  one,  whom  she  consigned  to  a  friend 
to  take  back  to  her  mother,  who  would  watch  over  him.  Another 
touching  case  was  that  of  a  little  crippled  girl  who  came  to  join 
her  family  in  America.  She  was  told  that  she  could  not  land. 
Her  father  and  mother,  brothers  and  sisters,  were  here;  she 
would  be  so  glad  to  go  to  them.  The  case  was  taken  to  Wash- 
ington, and  the  humane  feehng  of  the  Secretary  of  Commerce 
and  Labor  did  the  right  thing  —  the  girl  was  landed  after  a 
delay  of  three  weeks. 

Some  Fraud  Practiced.  —  Sometimes  persons  refused  admis- 
sion at  one  port  will  try  another.  Ellis  Island  has  the  repu- 
tation of  having  a  more  rigid  examination  than  any  other  port 
on  the  continent.  The  personal  factor  in  the  enforcement  of 
the  law  counts  for  a  great  deal.  A  lady  who  appUed  for  admis- 
sion as  a  steerage  passenger  in  Ellis  Island  was  detained  and 
deported  because  of  a  tuberculous  condition  of  the  glands  of 
the  neck.  As  soon  as  she  reached  the  port  of  embarkation,  she 
took  passage,  as  a  cabin  passenger,  in  another  ship,  destined  for 
another  port,  and  was  landed  without  any  difficulty.  While 
visiting  Canada  the  following  advertisement  fell  into  my  hand : 
"  For  a  couple  of  dollars  you  can  insure  your  furniture  for  three 
years.  Agent  for  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company  at  New 
York.  Issue  certificate  of  marriage,  hcense,  citizen  papers. 
Make  all  kinds  of  legal  papers,  passports,  give  permits  for  old 
or  crippled  people  to  be  allowed  to  land  in  Canada.  Give  papers 
to  get  into  the  States  so  you  will  not  have  to  pay  the  $4. 
Can  do  almost  anything  you  need  done  and  not  charge  you 
too  much."    It  is  a  difficult  task  to  guard  18,000  miles  of  coast 


26 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


line  so  that  speculators  will  not  take  their  chances  to  land  men 
who  cannot  otherwise  enter.  Of  course  these  persons  are  often 
put  to  considerable  trouble  and  expense.  A  friend  of  mine 
living  in  a  small  town  in  Vermont  said  that  the  Chinamen  in 
the  laundry  there  changed  very  often.  It  is  well  known  that 
no  group  of  immigrants  are  more  capable  of  making  their  way 
in  the  States  than  the  Chinese,  although  it  costs  them  large 
sums  of  money  to  open  the  gates.  I  met  a  stowaway  in  the  de- 
tention rooms  in  Ellis  Island  who  came  from  Cuba.  He  was 
to  be  deported,  but  he  said :  "  Back  to  the  States  I  come  again." 
More  than  15,000  seamen  made  good  their  entrance  into  the 
coimtry  last  year ;  the  traffic  still  goes  on,  for  it  is  one  of  the 
most  difficxdt  to  be  dealt  with  by  law.  ^ 

Contract  Labor  Law.  —  But  of  all  the  legal  causes  of  de- 
portation, that  of  the  Contract  Labor  Law  is  the  most  sweeping. 
Men  who  come  with  an  assurance  of  work,  or  in  other  words  a 
sure  means  of  subsistence,  cannot  enter ;  if,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  authorities  see  that  they  have  no  visible  means  of  support, 
they  are  deported.  All  men  who  sympathize  with  American 
workers  feel  that  the  purpose  of  this  law  is  worthy,  but  the 
means  to  attain  it  clumsy  and  crude.  In  all  the  volumes  writ- 
ten by  the  Immigration  Commission  no  saner  word  is  found 
than  the  following :  "  Indeed,  it  is  certain  that  European  immi- 
grants, and  particularly  those  from  southern  and  eastern  Eu- 
rope, are,  under  a  literal  construction  of  the  law,  for  the  most  part 
contract  laborers,  for  it  is  unlikely  that  many  emigrants  embark 
for  the  United  States  without  a  pretty  definite  knowledge  of 
where  they  will  go  and  what  they  will  do  if  admitted."  ^  This 
law  works  great  hardship  to  many  poor  people.  If  a  group  of 
persons  come,  having  the  same  address,  it  is  presumptive  evi- 
dence that  they  are  imder  contract  and  should  be  deported. 
Many  groups  of  immigrants  from  the  Balkan  States,  whence 
our  newer  immigration  comes,  have  suffered  in  consequence  of 
this  ruling.    A  single  address  is  often  used  by  these  people  be- 

1  See  abstract  report  on  "Alien  Seamen  and  Stowaways,"  by  Immigration  Com- 
mission. 

«  "Emigration  Conditions  in  Europe,"  p.  31,  by  Immigration  Commission. 


THE  TRIALS  AT  THE  GATE 


27 


cause  they  start  from  the  same  town  or  village,  and  have  been 
in  communication  with  a  friend  residing  at  the  point  of  their 
destination,  who  writes  from  the  store  or  saloon  of  a  countryman, 
using  his  stationery.  This  address  is  sometimes  written  in 
one  handwriting,  and  on  the  same  kind  of  paper,  for  the  men 
themselves  are  illiterate  and  cannot  write,  and  the  agent  from 
whom  they  bought  their  tickets  accommodated  them  in  this  re- 
spect. Many  cases  of  violation  of  the  Contract  Labor  Law  have 
been  uncovered,  but  with  thirty-five  per  cent  illiteracy  among  the 
men  of  southeastern  Europe,  it  would  hardly  seem  reasonable  to 
rule  that  the  same  address,  in  the  same  handwriting,  presented 
by  ten  men,  is  evidence  enough  to  debar  them.  Scores  of  Bul- 
garian and  Macedonian  peasants  have  been  deported  upon  this 
plea.  The  authorities  believed  they  violated  the  Contract 
Labor  Law ;  but  is  not  their  innocency  in  presenting  the  same 
address,  presumptive  evidence  that  there  was  no  collusion  on 
their  part  to  defeat  the  spirit  or  the  letter  of  the  law?  All 
the  deported  are  poor,  they  spend  money  and  time  crossing  the 
seas,  they  are  detained  for  days  and  weeks  in  Ellis  Island,  and 
deportation  is  a  great  hardship.  The  chances  are  that  the  loss 
each  man  sustains  will  impoverish  him  for  life  —  the  savings 
of  years  are  lost  by  men  who  did  not  know  enough  to  get  separate 
addresses.  It  would  have  been  great  kindness  to  them  if  they 
had  been  saved  the  trip  across  the  sea  and  the  anxiety  of  de- 
tention. Men  bent  on  collusion  devise  schemes  which  are  not 
as  easily  detected  as  is  similarity  of  addresses.  Is  not  the 
reasoning  equally  good,  that  any  immigrant  having  an  address 
is  prima  facie  evidence  that  he  has  a  job  in  sight?  Immigrants 
come  in  answer  to  America's  call  for  workers,  and  every  letter 
that  contains  a  steamship  ticket,  or  money  to  secure  one,  con- 
tains also  an  implied  or  expressed  assurance  that  work  awaits 
the  incoming  party. 

A  Broad  Net.  —  The  words  "  induce  or  solicit  to  migrate  to 
this  country  by  offers  or  promises  of  employment  or  in  conse- 
quence of  agreements,  oral,  written  or  printed,"  give  a  wide 
margin  to  the  inspectors  and  the  boards  of  special  inquiry.  A 
young  Englishman,  who  had  a  friend  in  New  York  City,  came 


28 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


as  a  steerage  passenger.  He  was  very  anxious  to  enter,  and, 
fearing  deportation  because  he  had  no  assurance  of  work,  he 
answered  the  question:  "Do  you  have  any  work  in  view?" 
by  saying,  "Yes,  my  friend  said  I  could  get  a  job."  It  cost 
him  a  week  in  the  detention  room,  and  his  friend  spent  two 
days  coming  to  the  Island,  to  testify  before  the  board  that  he 
was  not  an  employer  of  labor,  that  he  had  no  work  for  the 
immigrant,  but  that  he  was  willling  to  help  him  to  find  a  job. 

The  Board  of  Inquiry.  —  The  immigrant,  when  he  appears 
before  the  board  of  special  inquiry,  must  stand  alone;  he  can- 
not get  an  advocate,  and  the  examination  is  conducted  behind 
closed  doors.  Most  immigrants,  when  summoned  before  the 
board,  are  so  confused  and  excited  that  they  prejudice  their 
case.  In  Canada,  a  young  man,  appearing  before  the  medical 
examiner,  became  so  nervous  that  he  actually  collapsed.  He 
was  taken  to  the  hospital,  and  within  a  week,  under  the  fatherly 
care  of  the  physician,  was  in  good  shape  and  admitted.  But 
under  conditions  in  Ellis  Island,  when  the  detention  rooms  are 
crowded,  what  chance  has  a  sensitive  and  highly  strung  young 
man  to  make  a  favorable  impression  on  a  board  that  is  laboring 
under  the  impression  that  a  certain  percentage  ought  to  be  de- 
ported ?  1  These  men  on  the  boards  of  special  inquiry  are 
very  human.  They  have  their  prejudices  and  their  dislikes, 
as  all  other  men  have.  Two  of  the  three  members  decide  a  case, 
but  the  third  occasionally  serves  the  immigrant  well  by  giving 
the  suggestion  :  "  If  he  appeals,  his  chances  are  good  to  be  ad- 
mitted." The  personal  factor  plays  an  important  part  in  de- 
portation. The  laws  regulating  the  admission  of  immigrants 
were  exactly  the  same  in  1910-1911  as  they  were  in  the  previous 

• "  The  time  has  come  when  it  is  necessary  to  put  aside  false  sentimentality  in 
dealing  with  the  question  of  immigration  and  to  give  more  consideration  to  its 
racial  and  economic  aspects  and,  in  determining  what  additional  immigrants  we 
shall  receive,  to  remember  that  our  first  duty  is  to  our  country."  —  Page  i6, 
Annual  Report  of  the  Commissioner  of  Immigration  for  the  Port  of  New  York. 
The  fact  that  the  members  of  the  board  of  special  inquiry  are  selected  by  the  port 
commissioner  tends-to  "  influence  its  members  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  to  reflect 
in  their  decisions  the  attitude  of  the  commissioner  in  determining  the  cases."  — 
Immigration  Commission :  "  Conclusions  and  Recommendations,"  p.  24. 


THE  TRIALS  AT  THE  GATE 


29 


two  years,  but  the  number  deported  in  the  former  period  was 
a  hundred  per  cent  higher  than  in  the  latter.  The  record  of 
50,000 1  immigrants  sent  back  in  two  years  (1910-1911)  is  un- 
precedented in  the  history  of  immigration. 

No  Lawyer  Allowed.  —  Of  course  it  is  un-American  to  de- 
prive a  man  of  Hberty  and  happiness  without  due  process  of 
law ;  but  that  is  done  on  Ellis  Island  every  time  a  special  inquiry 
case  is  tried  and  the  defendant  is  forced  to  be  his  own  advo- 
cate. Alone,  in  secret  session,  he  must  stand  trial.  No  Ameri- 
can would  be  thus  treated,  and  yet  our  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence afl&rms  that  all  men  are  equal, —  a  fundamental  fact 
in  our  democracy  that  is  belied  every  time  an  immigrant  is 
subjected  to  this  process.  He  is  allowed  no  advocate,  and  no 
friend  can  appear  save  at  the  summons  of  the  board.  The 
character  of  the  boards  is  well  set  forth  in  the  words  of  the 
Immigration  Commission :  "  At  all  the  important  ports  the 
boards  of  special  inquiry  are  composed  of  immigrant  inspectors, 
who  are  generally  without  judicial  or  legal  training.  This, 
together  with  the  fact  that  they  are  selected  by  the  commissioners 
of  immigration  at  the  ports  where  they  serve,  tends  to  impair 
the  judicial  character  of  the  board  and  to  influence  its  members 
in  a  greater  or  less  degree  to  reflect  in  their  decisions  the  at- 
titude of  the  commissioner  in  determining  the  cases.  The 
character  of  their  decisions  is  indicated  somewhat  by  the  fact 
that  nearly  fifty  per  cent  of  the  cases  appealed  are  reversed  by 
the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  whose  decision,  imder 
the  law,  must  be  based  solely  upon  the  evidence  adduced  be- 
fore the  board.  This  record  of  reversals  on  appeal  suggests  that 
their  decisions  which  are  not  reviewed  may  be  equally  wrong." 

In  justice  to  the  immigrant,  and  to  the  country  as  well, 
the  character  of  these  boards  should  be  improved.  They  should 
be  composed  of  men  whose  ability  and  training  fit  them  for  the 
judicial  functions  performed,  and  the  provision  compelling 
their  hearings  to  be  separate  and  apart  from  the  public  should 
be  repealed.  ^ 

•  See  note  in  addenda  on  "  Debarred  and  Deported." 

'  See  "  Conclusions  and  Recommendations,"  p.  24,  by  Immigration  Commission. 


30 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


Traffic  in  Boys.  —  The  traffic  in  boys  —  especially  Greek 
boys  —  in  recent  years  has  given  the  boards  some  of  the  most 
perplexing  and  trying  cases  to  decide.  To  find  out  the  truth  of 
this  underground  traffic  is  most  difficult.  The  immigrant  is 
carefully  trained,  the  subtle  brain  that  plans  the  collusion 
hides  behind  the  screen,  and  the  inspectors  cannot  detect  the 
fraud,  although  fairly  well  convinced  that  it  is  there,  if  they 
could  only  go  a  little  deeper.  I  saw  six  Greek  boys  in  Ellis 
Island,  all  under  fourteen  years  of  age,  who  said  they  came 
to  their  fathers.  The  six  were  detained,  and  brought  before 
the  board  of  special  inquiry.  For  curiosity'  sake  I  took  the  ad- 
dress of  two  of  these  boys  in  order  to  see  the  shelter  the  fathers 
had  to  offer  the  lads.  The  men  lived  in  wretched  quarters  in  the 
tenement  district  of  New  York  City.  The  board  decided  that  it 
was  not  good  for  lads,  at  so  tender  an  age,  to  leave  their  mothers, 
come  to  a  strange  coimtry,  and  be  consigned  to  their  fathers. 
They  needed  their  mothers,  and  back  to  them  they  must  go. 
The  judgment  was  a  beneficent  one. 

Difficult  Cases.  —  The  boards  have  no  sinecure.  Some 
difficult  cases  are  brought  which  exact  the  greatest  acumen  and 
patience  at  their  command.  Cases  of  prostitutes  are  about 
as  hard  as  any.  I  saw  a  girl,  apparently  all  right  in  every 
respect,  in  tears  because  she  was  detained.  She  had  no  friend 
or  relative  to  whom  to  go.  She  was  twenty-five  years  of  age 
and  quick-witted.  The  authorities  consigned  her  to  the  care 
of  one  of  the  missionaries  stationed  on  the  Island.  She  stayed 
in  the  missionary  home  for  a  couple  of  weeks,  and  then  left.  The 
missionary  was  responsible  to  the  Commissioner,  and  kept  track 
of  her  charge.  A  month  had  not  passed  before  ample  evidence 
was  secured  to  deport  her.  When  the  authorities  are  suspi- 
cious of  young  women  who  come  in,  they  follow  the  cases,  and 
the  arm  of  the  government  is  a  long  one.  In  one  instance  it 
reached  clear  across  the  continent,  and  finally  deported  two 
demimondes  of  whom  the  detective  said :  "  There  was  no  trick 
they  did  not  know,"  but  it  took  six  months'  silent  hunt  to  se- 
cure evidence. 

The  Hospital  a  Blessing.  —  The  hospital  service  on  Ellis 


THE  TRIALS  AT  THE  GATE 


31 


Island  is  a  Godsend  to  many.  No  matter  what  disease  attacks 
the  immigrant,  he  is  treated,  without  money  and  without  price. 
Some  very  sad  cases  are  recorded.  Many  treatments  are 
highly  complimentary  to  the  skill  and  knowledge  of  the  men 
in  charge.  A  Scotchman,  doubled  up  with  pain,  was  taken  to 
the  hospital.  The  attack  came  on  suddenly  while  the  man 
was  waiting  for  the  train.  He  had  left  a  wife  and  bairns  in 
Scotland,  and  was  very  sohcitous  about  them.  We  wrote  letters 
for  him  to  the  wife,  and  every  time  the  poor  fellow  thought  of 
his  plight  and  his  beloved  ones  across  the  sea,  he  could  hardly 
control  his  feeling.  When  the  day  of  dismissal  came,  and  he 
was  able  to  continue  his  journey,  the  gratitude  he  manifested 
for  the  kindness  he  had  received  was  beautiful.  He  could  not 
find  language  strong  enough  to  show  his  appreciation  of  how 
America  had  treated  him.  This  case  is  typical.  Patients  treated 
and  healed,  when  they  land,  are  thankful  for  the  Christian 
kindness  and  treatment  they  have  received  in  this  institution. 
A  foreign-speaking  man  who  had  some  chest  trouble  was  under 
the  care  of  the  physicians  for  some  weeks.  The  case  was  a  com- 
plicated one,  and  a  surgical  operation  required.  The  man  got 
well,  and  was  landed.  To  see  his  gratitude  and  the  expression 
of  thankfulness  on  his  face  was  the  best  deliverance  one  could 
ever  witness  on  the  blessing  of  practical  philanthropy.  The 
hospital  is  rendering  services  of  the  highest  order  to  immi- 
grants, and  we  are  safe  in  stating  that  all  who  leave  it  are  favor- 
ably impressed  with  America. 

Ellis  Island  Interesting.  —  There  is  no  place  more  interesting 
in  New  York  City  than  Ellis  Island,  and  the  machinery  is  ad- 
mirably adapted  to  do  the  work  in  hand.  There  are  many 
hardships  incident  to  the  enforcement  of  the  laws,  but  in  the 
nature  of  the  case  it  cannot  be  otherwise.  It  is  a  "  Babel- 
mandel  "  —  a  gate  of  tears  —  to  many.  There  are  also  some 
humorous  cases.  Deputy  Hurley,  of  Boston,  tells  of  the  ar- 
rival of  a  young  woman  who  was  detained  because  of  an  affection 
of  the  eyes.  A  young  Jew  secured  a  pass  to  see  her,  and  then 
busied  himself  in  trying  to  secure  her  admission.  After  the 
first  few  days'  vain  effort,  he  asked  permission  to  bring  in  a 


32 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


friend  to  see  her.  The  request  was  promptly  granted.  The 
friend  came,  tarried  awhile,  and  left.  No  sooner  was  he  gone 
than  the  young  Hebrew  appealed  to  the  Commissioner  to  allow 
his  wife  to  land.  The  friend  he  brought  was  a  Rabbi,  who  per- 
formed the  matrimonial  ceremony,  and  the  young  man,  being 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  had  a  right  to  land  his  wife,  and 
the  Commissioner  was  helpless  to  refuse  his  appeal. 

Kindness  Pays.  —  The  trials  at  the  gate  are  many ;  some  are 
unavoidable  because  of  the  enforcement  of  the  law,  others  are 
avoidable  if  the  necessities  of  all  immigrants  are  met.  A  fair 
trial  by  competent  men  ought  to  be  given  each  of  the  detained. 
The  first  impression  made  upon  the  immigrant  is  lasting;  if 
it  is  imfavorable,  the  effect  upon  the  nation  is  far  reaching,  and 
it  develops  to  be  a  source  of  mischief  in  industrial  and  social 
relations;  if  it  is  favorable,  a  million  hearts  will  be  predis- 
posed to  friendliness  and  sympathy  with  all  that  is  American. 
On  no  other  occasion  in  the  life  of  the  immigrant  will  the  United 
States  government  have  as  favorable  an  opportunity  to  in- 
fluence him  for  good  as  when  he  lands.  He  is  receptive  and 
ambitious  to  please.  He  asks  for  bread ;  we  should  not  give 
him  a  stone.  Money  spent  in  giving  him  as  just  and  generous 
a  reception  as  possible  is  well  spent ;  it  is  seed  planted  that  will 
ripen  to  good  citizenship  and  bring  forth  a  hundredfold  in  com- 
ing years. 


CHAPTER  III 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS 

The  men  of  the  old  immigration  were  free  from  anxiety  con- 
cerning the  government  examination  for  admission.  None 
dreaded  it,  and  during  the  voyage  across  the  ocean  none  referred 
to  it  as  a  cause  of  anxiety.  It  is  very  different  at  present, 
especially  among  the  men  of  the  new  immigration.  Fifty 
thousand  souls  sent  back  to  Europe  in  the  last  two  years  has 
had  its  effect  both  upon  steamship  companies  and  upon  small 
communities.  The  former  have  become  more  careful  in  their 
examinations  previous  to  selling  tickets  to  prospective  emi- 
grants ;  the  latter  judge  the  chances  of  admission  by  the  type 
of  men  deported,  and  are  learning  that  the  government  of  the 
United  States  is  annually  becoming  more  critical  as  to  the  qual- 
ity and  character  of  men  admitted. 

States  in  Control.  —  The  examination  of  immigrants  landing 
in  the  port  of  New  York  previous  to  1882  was  in  the  hands 
of  the  state  of  New  York.  State  sovereignty  as  regards  im- 
migration was  the  rule.  Each  state  having  a  port  of  land- 
ing had  power  to  regulate  immigration  as  it  thought  best. 
This  was  almost  equal  to  no  regulation,  and  the  few 
rules  that  were  enforced  differed  so  greatly  in  the  several  ports 
that  uniformity  in  the  treatment  of  immigrants  was  a  hope- 
less dream.  Variation  and  confusion  was  the  result,  and  as 
long  as  the  several  states  had  the  regulating  power,  there  was 
no  deliverance.  After  much  litigation  and  discussion,  the 
Federal  Government  in  the  above  year  assumed  control  and  uni- 
form laws  were  passed  and  enforced  in  all  American  ports. 
Many  changes  have  been  effected  since  the  national  govern- 
ment has  taken  charge ;  but  when  a  law  regulating  immigration 
is  passed  by  Congress,  it  is  equally  applicable  to  the  port  of 
Galveston  in  Texas,  as  to  that  of  Portland  in  Maine,  or  San 
»  33 


34 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


Francisco  in  California.  Up  to  1882,  little  or  no  regulation 
existed,  so  that  detention  and  its  terrors  did  not  affect  the  old 
immigration ;  since  then,  the  gates  have  been  fairly  well  guarded, 
and  the  trend  of  laws  regulating  immigration  is  to  make  them 
narrower  year  after  year.  This  increased  restriction  has  kept 
pace  with  the  increased  inflow  from  southeastern  Europe,  and  both 
are  related  as  cause  and  effect.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  present 
laws  effectually  keep  out  the  pauper  and  the  physically  un- 
sound. Criminals  and  moral  delinquents  have  at  all  times 
been  able  to  find  entrance  into  the  country.  It  is  impossible 
to  frame  laws  which  will  keep  these  out,  but  we  have  reason 
to  believe  that  the  vigilance  of  Federal  officers  and  the  three 
years'  probation  imposed  upon  all  ahens  have  greatly  reduced 
the  number  of  criminals  and  moral  delinquents  entering  the 
country. 

In  Ellis  Island.  —  As  before  stated,  the  first  impressions 
made  upon  the  immigrant  are  very  important,  and  some  of 
the  deepest  are  made  in  the  first  few  days  after  they  are  landed. 
Possibly  the  first  is  that  made  in  Ellis  Island.  As  the  hvmdreds 
of  thousands  of  steerage  passengers  file  into  this  imposing 
building,  they  come  for  the  first  time  face  to  face  with  the  United 
States  Government.  Before  they  leave  the  boat,  they  put  on 
their  best  clothes,  for  they  are  anxious  to  look  their  best  and 
make  as  favorable  an  impression  as  possible  upon  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  government ;  but  we  must  confess  that  most 
of  the  officers  handling  the  immigrants  are  wholly  indifferent 
as  to  the  impression  they  make  upon  those  who  pass  through 
the  gate.  The  commissioners  issue  orders  to  their  men  to  be 
courteous  and  refrain  from  swearing;  but  courtesy  and  exple- 
tives cannot  be  regulated  by  orders  from  the  chief.  Some  men 
are  by  nature  discourteous  and  unkind,  and  somehow  a  few  of 
them  get  into  the  employment  of  Uncle  Sam.  It  is  unfortunate 
that  they  come  in  touch  with  the  immigrant  as  he  enters,  and 
have  anything  to  do  with  the  enforcement  of  laws  governing 
his  admission.  If  these  people  are  patient  under  unkind  treat- 
ment, silent  when  shouted  at  and  pushed  along,  it  is  no  proof 
that  they  are  not  conscious  of  wrong.    Some  people  in  this 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS 


35 


democracy  say  of  the  foreigners,  "  They  are  like  dumb  beasts, 
and  have  been  so  treated  in  their  own  country,"  which  is  not 
true.  There  is  more  genuine  courtesy  among  the  working 
classes  on  the  Continent  than  among  their  peers  in  America ; 
and  when  the  poor  of  southeastern  Europe  come  to  the  United 
States,  it  is  a  mistake  to  imagine  that  a  surly,  curt,  and  gruff 
attitude  on  the  part  of  any  ofl&cer  will  pass  unnoticed.  Dumb 
animals  appreciate  kindness;  how  much  more  these  people 
who  come  from  lands  where  courtesy  is  common.  When  Mike 
Petrovich  lost  his  small  trunk,  containing  all  his  worldly  pos- 
sessions, he  was  very  anxious  to  reclaim  it.  He  went  from 
official  to  official  with  his  trouble,  but  all  he  could  get  was  "  Go 
on,  go  on,"  with  a  gesture  in  the  direction  he  had  to  go.  It  is 
true,  officers  have  no  time  to  spend  on  such  cases,  and  it  is  a  boon 
to  thousands  that  patient  and  genial  missionaries  supplement 
the  work  of  government  officials  in  ports  of  landing.  Hundreds 
of  men,  who  are  in  trouble  because  something  has  gone  wrong, 
are  cheered  and  comforted  when  the  matter  is  straightened  out. 
If  these  philanthropic  agencies  did  nothing  else  than  erase  the 
impression  made  on  scores  of  immigrants  by  the  impatient 
and  curt  treatment  of  officials,  they  would  serve  a  useful  pur- 
pose both  to  the  immigrants  and  to  the  country. 

The  Detained.  —  Detention  is  irksome  and  unpleasant,  and 
the  immigrant  in  the  detention  room  is  disappointed  and  cha- 
grined. He  expected  to  enter  into  the  land  of  opportunity, 
and,  lo !  he  finds  his  pathway  blockaded  by  an  imexpected  turn, 
the  end  of  which  he  cannot  see.  Detention  is  imprisonment 
in  every  sense  of  the  word,  for  the  man  is  detained  contrary 
to  his  will.  We  have  spoken  of  the  detention  quarters  in  ElUs 
Island;  when  they  are  not  overcrowded  and  conditions  are 
of  the  best,  the  immigrant  still  feels  that  he  would  like  to  break 
away  and  be  free.  Detention  quarters  in  minor  ports  are  far 
worse  than  those  in  ElUs  Island.  In  some  of  these,  women 
and  children,  in  the  summer  months,  are  kept  in  a  sweat  box 
and  sleep  on  beds  that  are  filthy  and  full  of  vermin.  It  is  no 
justification  of  such  conditions  to  say  :  "  They  don't  stay  long  — 
a  day  or  two,  and  then  they  are  sent  on."    A  day  in  Purgatory 


36 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


is  not  forgotten,  and  the  injury  which  can  be  done  to  a  sensitive 
and  nervous  person  in  twenty-four  hours  may  be  irreparable. 
If,  in  addition  to  unpleasant  conditions,  the  detention  was  un- 
justified, then  the  immigrant  feels  more  keenl  the  deprivation 
of  liberty  and  the  wrong  done  to  him.  The  law  regulating 
immigration  is  not  always  observed  in  the  case  of  immigrants. 
A  group  of  Russians  were  detained,  and  the  board  of  special 
inquiry  decided  to  deport  them  on  the  ground  that  they  came  in 
violation  of  the  Contract  Labor  Law.  There  was  no  evidence  to 
justify  the  decision  —  it  was  only  conjecture.  The  men  filed 
an  appeal.  The  law  says  that  every  appeal  must  be  sent  to 
Washington,  to  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  within 
twenty-four  hours  after  being  filed.  The  appeal  of  these  Rus- 
sians was  not  sent  on  for  six  weeks,  and  when  the  reason  was 
asked,  the  port  commissioner  said  that  he  held  the  appeal  pend- 
ing an  investigation  made  by  government  ofiicials  at  the  point 
of  destination  of  these  men,  to  find  out  whether  or  not  they  were 
violaters  of  the  Contract  Labor  Law.  The  action  of  the  commis- 
sioner was  wholly  Ulegal,  and  the  Russians  knew  this;  what 
was  the  impression  made  upon  the  minds  of  these  men  as  to 
the  impartial  enforcement  of  the  laws  of  the  United  States? 
No  officer  in  the  employment  of  the  Federal  government  has 
the  right  to  suspend  the  course  of  justice  to  the  inconvenience 
of  the  immigrant ;  and  when  this  is  done,  the  effect  is  serious  upon 
the  detained.  It  is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  nation 
that  the  immigrants  from  the  beginning  have  respect  and 
deference  for  our  laws ;  but  if  they  see,  as  they  enter  the  country, 
that  their  enforcement  or  suspension  depends  on  the  will  of 
the  executive  officer,  then  no  one  need  be  astonished  that  the 
ranks  of  the  lawless  and  disorderly  are  recruited  from  among 
recent  aliens. 

Laws  not  Enforced.  —  The  impression  of  the  lax  enforce- 
ment of  law  meets  the  immigrant  as  he  continues  his  journey 
inland  in  many  other  ways.  In  an  important  distributing 
center  in  Pennsylvania  the  men  assigned  to  watch  over  the 
immigrants  were  in  collusion  with  the  restaurant  keeper.  The 
guides  never  failed  to  lead  the  victims  to  the  eating  house  to  be 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS 


37 


bled,  and  never  failed  to  collect  the  price  of  the  fraud.  The 
practice  was  discovered  and  stopped.  The  railroad  now  regu- 
lates the  traffic.  A  substantial  meal  must  be  served  the  immi- 
grant who  wants  it,  and  the  maximum  charge  is  thirty  cents.  At 
another  distributing  point  in  the  Middle  West,  the  way  immi- 
grants are  defrauded  and  imposed  upon  is  scandalous.  The 
officers  of  the  law  are  near,  but  they  will  not  interfere.  Hackmen 
and  draymen  grab  the  baggage  of  the  immigrant,  throw  it  into 
their  conveyance,  then  pull  in  the  owner,  drive  away,  and  charge 
whatever  they  will.  Cases  of  gross  fraud  have  been  uncovered 
again  and  again,  efforts  have  been  made  to  bring  the  culprits 
to  justice,  but  every  obstacle  is  put  in  the  way  of  the  prosecutors ; 
the  cases  are  deferred  again  and  again,  and  when  brought  to 
trial,  the  sympathy  of  the  court  is  with  the  native-born  as 
against  the  foreign-born. 

The  Commissariat.  —  The  government  has  introduced  at 
the  chief  ports  of  landing  means  by  which  the  immigrant  can 
purchase  food  at  reasonable  rates.  The  right  to  sell  food  at 
ports  of  landing  is  farmed  out  to  reliable  men.  The  quality 
of  the  food  sold  and  the  prices  asked  are  carefully  watched  by 
the  commissioners ;  any  attempt  at  fraud  is  promptly  investi- 
gated. The  commissariat  at  Ellis  Island  is  a  boon  to  immi- 
grants. The  company  having  the  privilege  to  sell  puts  up 
food  in  pasteboard  boxes  —  the  smaller  sold  for  fifty  cents  ;  the 
larger  for  a  dollar.  Samples  of  the  food  and  fruit  in  the  boxes  are 
on  exhibition  in  a  glass  case,  so  that  each  purchaser  knows  exactly 
what  to  expect  for  his  money.  All  immigrants  going  to  New 
York  City  pass  from  the  inspection  room  to  the  package  boat ; 
they  are  in  sight  of  their  destination,  and  no  food  is  sold  them. 
The  men  going  to  New  England  pass  through  the  east  room, 
and  here  they  can  purchase  food  for  the  remainder  of  the  jour- 
ney. The  majority  of  immigrants  go  to  the  west  room,  and  here 
the  commissariat  does  its  largest  business.  Several  persons 
are  in  charge  of  the  stand,  and  during  one  of  the  busy  days, 
when  from  three  to  five  thousand  immigrants  enter,  the  volume 
of  business  done  is  very  large.  The  men  in  charge  of  the  counter 
are  there  for  business.    One  of  the  force  stands  on  the  floor  to 


38 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


direct  immigrants  to  the  stand.  As  each  passenger  comes  from 
the  hands  of  the  officials,  who  pin  a  card  on  his  coat  designating 
the  railroad  he  must  take,  he  is  directed  to  the  counter  where 
food  and  drink  —  cider  and  soft  drinks  —  are  sold.  Many 
of  these  people  have  the  impression  that  this  is  a  part  of  the 
process  through  which  they  have  to  pass,  and  so  purchase  a 
box  more  mechanically  than  intelligently.  Some  good  people 
inland  have  inquired  about  the  "  graft "  in  Ellis  Island  in  the 
sale  of  food.  Foreigners  have  doubtless  told  them  something, 
and,  not  knowing  the  situation,  they  conclude  that  there  is 
graft.  The  impression  rises  from  the  fact  that  in  the  rush  of 
business  foreign-speaking  immigrants  do  not  buy  intelligently. 
Whereas  a  fifty-cent  box  would  be  ample  for  their  need,  they  get 
a  dollar  one.  The  commissariat  is  a  great  convenience ;  if 
a  way  could  be  devised  whereby  the  box  sold  each  passenger 
would  correspond  to  his  needs,  much  of  the  criticism  now  made 
by  foreigners  would  be  disarmed.  All  of  it  would  not  be  re- 
moved, for  the  immigrants  don't  know  the  value  of  foods  in  this 
country,  and  a  dollar  paid  for  a  box  such  as  is  sold  them  will 
always  appear  an  exorbitant  price.  Then  also  the  contents 
of  the  box  are  not  to  the  taste  of  some  immigrants,  and  they 
think  that  the  money  is  largely  thrown  away.  But  all  things 
considered,  the  commissariat  renders  a  service  of  incalculable 
value  to  these  people. 

Railroads  guard  Immigrants.  —  Immigrants,  while  in  charge 
of  the  railroad  companies,  are,  on  the  whole,  fairly  well  guarded. 
Each  railroad  on  the  Jersey  shore  has  an  immigrant  room  to 
which  the  newcomers  are  taken  by  ferryboats  from  EUis  Island. 
In  these  rooms  the  immigrants  are  kept  imder  strict  guard 
until  the  immigrant  train  is  made  up  —  invariably  at  night. 
Of  course,  it  is  almost  impossible  for  the  railroad  companies 
to  guard  against  an  unscrupulous  employee  bent  upon  exploiting 
the  immigrants.  The  custom  was  some  time  ago  for  the  gov- 
ernment to  put  the  passengers  in  charge  of  the  crew  on  the 
ferryboat,  without  any  of  its  ofl&cers  on  board.  On  one  of  the 
boats,  some  members  of  the  crew  formed  a  clique  to  collect  twenty- 
five  cents  per  capita  from  the  immigrants.    It  worked  well,  but 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS 


39 


was  soon  discovered;  now  a  man  wearing  the  uniform  of 
Uncle  Sam  accompanies  each  boat.  One  of  the  railroads  had 
an  interpreter  in  charge  of  its  immigration  room.  One  evening 
as  the  passengers  were  lined  up  and  put  on  board  the  immigrant 
train,  one  fellow  protested  vigorously,  saying  that  he  did  not 
get  the  front  seat  for  which  he  paid.  An  investigation  followed, 
and  it  was  discovered  that  the  guardian  of  the  room  had  for 
some  time  wheedled  many  of  these  innocent  people  out  of 
fifty  cents  by  the  promise  of  a  front  seat  on  the  train. 

Clerks  make  Mistakes.  —  Mistakes  are  sometimes  made  by 
railroad  clerks.  When  we  consider  the  large  number  of  passen- 
gers carried,  the  frequency  with  which  towns  in  different  states 
have  the  same  name,  and  the  resemblance  between  names  of 
towns,  though  widely  apart,  the  wonder  is  that  so  few  errors  are 
made.  The  Pennsylvania  Railroad  handled  in  its  Philadelphia 
immigrant  depot  119,000  passengers  in  one  year,  and  less  than 
ten  mistakes  were  made.  On  one  of  these  trains  a  conductor 
mixed  the  tickets  of  two  men  —  the  one  was  going  to  St.  Louis, 
the  other  to  Pittsburgh.  Each  got  to  the  wrong  place,  and  it 
took  some  time  and  inconvenience  to  straighten  out  the  tangle. 
Mistakes  sometimes  are  wholly  due  to  the  willful  conduct  of 
passengers.  A  man  may  be  going  to  West  Virginia,  and  is  placed 
in  the  right  car  by  the  conductor ;  but  he  has  a  friend  who 
goes  to  western  Pennsylvania,  and  he  spies  him  in  another 
car ;  as  soon  as  the  conductor  turns  his  back,  out  the  fellow 
goes  to  join  his  friend,  and  is  carried  to  Pennsylvania. 

The  Immigrant  Train.  —  Steerage  immigrants  must  take  the 
immigrant  train  or  secure  a  first-class  ticket  on  a  regular  train. 
Those  destined  to  points  within  fifty  miles  or  so  of  New  York 
City  are  put  on  the  first  local  train  leaving  after  they  are 
brought  to  the  depot;  but  if  they  go  eighty  or  more  miles, 
they  must  take  the  immigrant  train,  which  may  be  made  up 
of  a  full  complement  of  cars  or  of  one  coach  which  is  attached 
to  a  regular  train.  The  train  starts  at  night,  —  about  nine 
o'clock,  —  transporting  to  their  destination  the  people  exam- 
ined that  day  at  Ellis  Island.  Immigrants  going  to  places 
within  one  or  two  himdred  miles,  such  as  Trenton,  Philadel- 


40 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


phia,  Scranton,  Bethlehem,  etc.,  arrive  at  unseasonable  hours, 
and  unless  met  by  friends  they  spend  the  night  in  the  depot. 
Mr.  Emory,  in  charge  of  the  Philadelphia  immigrant  station, 
sympathizing  with  the  immigrants  landing  there  at  midnight, 
asked  the  advice  of  one  of  the  consuls :  "  What  shall  I  do  with 
these  people  arriving  at  midnight  and  going  to  parties  in  this 
city?"  His  answer  was,  "Turn  them  loose  on  the  road."^ 
That  is  exactly  what  takes  place,  not  only  in  the  City  of  Broth- 
erly Love,  but  in  many  other  cities  whither  immigrants  go. 
When  they  are  landed  in  the  depot,  the  railroad's  responsibility 
ceases.    It  is  then  that  tragedies  occur. 

Some  of  the  Tragedies.  —  Two  PoUsh  girls,  "  turned  loose  " 
in  Philadelphia,  and  confiding  in  a  suave  guide  who  promised 
to  show  them  to  the  address  they  had,  were  taken  to  a  bawdy 
house.  One  of  them  effected  her  escape,  and  was  found  by  a 
poUce  ofl&cer  weeping  on  the  street.  The  officer  went  imme- 
diately after  the  other  girl,  and  rescued  her  —  both  were  snatched 
from  the  jaws  of  heU ;  but  how  many  are  swept  along  in  the  mael- 
strom of  lust  in  large  cities  where  thousands  of  innocent  immi- 
grant girls  go  annually?  Another  Lithuanian  immigrant  came 
to  the  same  city,  having  the  address  of  her  brother,  but  she 
also  was  led  by  a  vampire  into  a  Ufe  of  shame.  The  Lithuanian 
papers  took  up  the  case,  but  to  no  purpose.  Three  years  passed, 
when  one  day  a  Lithuanian  entered  that  bawdy  house,  con- 
ducted by  a  foreigner,  met  the  young  woman,  and  learned  her 
sad  story.  The  brother  was  communicated  with,  and  came 
to  the  rescue  of  his  sister.  They  refrained  from  prosecuting 
the  seducer  because  of  the  pubUcity  incident  to  a  lawsuit.  The 
League  for  the  Protection  of  Immigrants  in  Chicago  could  not 

1  The  custom  of  bringing  immigrants  and  tiiming  them  loose  in  depots  at  un- 
seasonable hours  has  been  the  subject  of  much  criticism.  Railroad  companies 
generally  look  after  the  passengers,  and  allow  them  to  stay  in  the  depot  \mtil  public 
conveyances  and  trolleys  are  nmning.  However,  inmiigrants  are  impatient  to  get 
to  the  end  of  the  journey,  and  often  force  their  way  out  of  the  depot  contrary  to  the 
advice  of  the  agent.  As  long  as  immigrant  trains  are  used  to  transport  aliens,  it 
will  be  impossible  for  railroads  to  land  all  immigrants  at  their  destination  at 
seasonable  hours,  for  the  train  which  lands  passengers  in  Philadelphia  at  midnight 
will  land  others  in  Pittsburgh  at  noon  the  following  day.  And  the  same  is  true  of 
immigrant  trains  going  to  Scranton  and  Buffalo. 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS 


41 


locate  1200  out  of  7000  girls  whose  destination  was  that  city. 
Of  course  all  these  were  not  lost  to  virtue ;  but  who  can  tell  how 
many  of  them  were  the  victims  of  harpies  preying  upon  human 
flesh.  And  as  long  as  railroad  depots  are  infested  by  men  and 
women  whose  sole  business  is  to  rob  and  ruin,  the  impression 
made  upon  tens  of  thousands  of  immigrants  coming  to  Christian 
America  will  be  that  it  is  a  land  of  pitfalls  for  the  innocent  and 
unwary.  Every  man  and  woman  entering  the  country  should 
be  protected  — •  protected  untU  they  are  safe  with  their  friends. 
The  last  cent  collected  by  the  four  dollars  per  capita  tax  should 
be  spent  in  their  behalf ;  and  if  there  is  not  enough  to  protect 
the  least  of  these  people  admitted  by  us,  then  a  larger  sum 
should  be  collected  and  the  work  done  properly.  Exploitation 
and  seduction  are  evils  that  react  upon  the  peace  of  society 
and  bring  discredit  upon  democracy. 

On  the  Train.  —  The  immigrant  train  is  a  theater  where 
all  the  qualities  of  human  nature  are  seen  at  play.  Immigrants 
who  spend  the  night  in  coaches  are  dirty,  tired,  and  sleepy. 
The  coach  also  is  dirty,  for  immigrants  from  southeastern 
Europe  throw  all  waste  on  the  floor.  The  greatest  hardships, 
are  endured  by  women  and  children,  and  it  is  astonishing  what 
a  fund  of  cheer  is  at  their  command.  Conductors  on  immigrant 
trains  are  generally  careful,  courteous,  and  firm.  Mothers  with 
children,  weary  and  tired,  show  their  love  by  ministering  to 
the  Uttle  ones  and  consulting  their  comfort.  Strong  men, 
peasants,  far  from  being  refined  in  garb  or  speech,  cheerfully 
help  the  weak  and  worn.  There  are  no  harsh  complaints  heard 
on  these  trains,  but  everywhere  cheer  and  comfort,  hope  and 
faith.  As  an  immigrant  train  drew  near  Irwin,  Pa.,  the  con- 
ductor took  the  tickets  of  an  Italian  woman  and  her  son  of 
twelve.  This  they  interpreted  aright  —  they  would  get  off  at 
the  next  depot.  Immediately  they  began  to  talk  excitedly, 
and  their  faces  grew  radiant,  and  both  kept  close  to  the  window. 
No  sooner  was  the  train  in  the  depot  than  a  shout  of  joy 
escaped  the  mother,  and  both  snatched  their  bimdles  and 
rushed  out.  How  that  mother  ran  to  the  arms  of  the  young 
man  awaiting  her  and  kissed  him  —  how  he  held  her  at  arm's 


42 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


length  and  kissed  her  again  and  again,  whispering  terms  of 
endearment  in  his  own  sweet  tongue ;  and  then  turning  to  the 
boy  he  kissed  him  and  placed  one  hand  on  his  shoulder  and  the 
other  on  that  of  his  mother.  That  was  not  the  only  scene  of 
affection  witnessed  on  that  train.  Hardly  did  it  pass  a  depot 
but  a  wealth  of  affection  was  manifested  which  set  the  heart 
aglow  with  stronger  love  for  the  immigrants,  and  thankfulness 
to  God  for  such  lessons  in  the  book  of  life. 

A  Kind-hearted  Agent.  —  Railroad  men  are  generally  cour- 
teous to  immigrants,  but  there  are  exceptions.  I  saw  one  with 
a  club  in  his  hand  —  a  formidable  weapon ;  looking  at  it,  I  said  : 
"  Do  you  use  that  on  the  foreigners?  "  "  Only  to  poke  them," 
he  replied.  Some  immigrants  are  trying ;  they  are  pretty  much 
like  children,  when  told  something  they  soon  forget  and  dis- 
obey orders,  and  then  the  "  poking  "  takes  place.  Some  sta- 
tion agents  have  found  exceptional  opportunities  to  serve  these 
men,  and  they  have  proven  equal  to  the  occasion.  One  agent 
found  a  foreign-speaking  young  woman  on  his  hands  at  mid- 
night, when  he  was  about  to  go  home  and  close  the  depot  for 
the  night.  She  had  an  address,  but  he  could  not  decipher  it. 
What  was  he  to  do  —  turn  her  out  and  leave  her  to  her  fate 
in  a  strange  city?  The  man  was  a  Christian  gentleman,  and 
took  the  young  woman  home  with  him.  His  wife  welcomed 
her,  and  lodged  the  stranger  over  night.  The  following  morning 
both  women  went  to  a  Pohsh  saloon-keeper,  and  the  riddle  on  that 
slip  of  paper  was  solved,  and  the  girl  joined  to  her  relatives. 
That  is  a  twentieth-century  version  of  the  Good  Samaritan, 
and  the  Poles  of  that  town  have  ever  since  taken  off  their  hats 
to  that  station  agent. 

The  Foreigner's  Address. — Senator  Dillingham  tells  us  that  the 
manifests  in  Ellis  Island  show  that  ninety-seven  per  cent  of  the 
immigrants  have  a  definite  address  and  that  ninety-four  per  cent 
of  them  go  to  relatives  or  friends,  but  the  difficulty  often  is  to  de- 
cipher the  address.  A  young  immigrant  came  to  Chicago,  having 
the  address  of  an  uncle,  residing  in  a  village  of  which  none  in 
the  depot  knew.  The  young  man  was  helpless,  and  went  to  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  building  for  coimsel.  Abra- 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS 


43 


ham  Bowers,  immigration  secretary,  took  his  case  in  hand  and 
after  a  few  days'  search  found  the  uncle.  The  following  address 
was  brought  to  H.  A.  McConnaughey,  of  the  Central  Building 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  in  Pittsburgh,  Pa.  : 

Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  Panewna 
Stait  i6  Babereia.  47 

Franciszek  Pisczatowski., 
which,  after  two  hours'  work,  was  deciphered  to  mean : 

Penn.  Ave.,  i6th  Street,  Mulberry  Alley. 
Riddles  of  this  character  can  only  be  solved  by  gentlemen  pos- 
sessed of  the  Christian  spirit,  whether  they  be  Jew  or  Gentile. 
Of  the  7000  addresses  sent  to  the  Immigration  League  of  Chicago, 
the  officers  were  only  able  to  decipher  700.  The  immigrants 
have  their  own  way  of  spelUng  the  names  of  towns  and  streets ; 
and  the  situation  is  still  further  compHcated  by  some  foreigners, 
after  residing  in  America  awhile,  changing  their  names.  A  Mac- 
edonian, located  in  Chicago,  changed  his  name  from  Mitro 
Petroff  to  Mike  Peter.  Mitro's  brother  arrived  with  the  old 
name  and  an  old  address  —  Mike  having  changed  his  boarding 
place.  Leaders  among  the  Macedonians  were  consulted,  but 
no  one  knew  a  man  of  that  name.  After  a  search  of  six  days 
some  one  solved  the  problem,  and  the  brothers  were  brought 
together.  Government  and  raUroad  officials  don't  generally 
spend  much  time  with  a  man  having  a  defective  address.  It 
is  much  easier  to  deport  or  turn  him  loose.  But  there 
are  men  and  women  wilUng  to  help  a  foreigner  to  find  a 
Mr.  Grey  when  the  immigrant  shows  the  name  of  Graykauskas ; 
or  Mr.  Pass,  when  the  foreigner  has  the  name  of  Passkeiros; 
or  Mr.  Duley,  when  the  man  carries  the  name  D'Auhzio.  Judge 
Mack  believes  that  the  Federal  Government  ought  to  establish 
a  bureau  in  Chicago,  "  large  enough  to  enable  all  immigrants 
to  come  there  directly  from  the  train,  remaining  there  during 
the  entire  time  under  government  supervision,  with  provision 
for  housing  and  feeding  them  if  they  are  compelled  to  remain 
there  overnight,  and  with  opportunities  for  all  properly  regu- 
lated and  authorized  philanthropic  agencies  to  confer  with 
them  at  the  government  headquarters  under  supervision  — 


44 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


a  place  where  their  relatives  and  friends  to  whom  they  are  destined 
in  Chicago  may  meet  them,  and  from  which,  if  they  are  not  met, 
properly  authorized  philanthropic  organizations  can  conduct 
them  to  safe  homes."  This  should  be  done,  not  only  in  Chicago, 
but  in  Pittsburgh,  Buffalo,  Philadelphia,  St.  Louis,  etc.  —  in 
every  city  that  is  an  important  distributing  center  in  the  coimtry. 

Providing  for  Immigrants.  —  The  best  and  most  considerate 
provision  made  by  any  railroad  company  to  meet  the  needs  of 
immigrants  is  the  waiting  room  assigned  for  this  purpose  in 
the  new  Northwestern  Railway  Company's  depot  in  Chicago. 
The  room  is  ninety  by  three  hundred  feet,  well  ventilated,  fur- 
nished with  twenty-seven  rockers,  four  large  sofas,  writing  tables, 
etc.  On  the  one  end  is  the  women's  room,  having  four  chambers 
furnished  with  bath  tubs ;  twelve  porcelain  wash  tubs  where  gar- 
ments may  be  washed  and  a  steam  dryer  to  dry  them.  At  the 
other  end  is  the  men's  room,  furnished  wdth  shower  baths  and  a 
place  where  they  can  wash  articles  of  clothing.  In  another 
part  is  a  lunch  room,  where  the  passengers  can  get  rolls  and  cof- 
fee for  ten  cents,  and  a  substantial  and  wholesome  meal  for 
thirty  cents.  This  intelligent  and  humane  consideration  to  meet 
the  needs  of  immigrants  brings  its  reward  in  good  will  and 
gratitude.  Such  apphances  for  the  convenience  of  newcomers 
imply  respect  for  humanity  and  faith  in  the  immigrants;  too 
long  have  transporting  agents  thought  that  anything  is  good 
enough  for  the  southeastern  European ;  a  better  conception 
of  the  rights  of  men  should  prevail,  and  the  above  accommoda- 
tions are  a  good  introduction  to  the  standard  of  Hving  and  com- 
fort common  among  Americans. 

Foreigners  have  Feelings.  —  The  Chicago  Tribune  preached 
one  of  its  most  effective  sermons  the  morning  after 
the  wreck  of  an  immigrant  train,  when  fifty  immigrants  were 
killed.  It  was  a  cartoon  showing  an  immigrant  ship,  and  on 
shore  a  mother,  with  her  Uttle  children  clinging  to  her  skirt, 
waving  farewell  to  the  father  of  her  loved  ones  on  his  way  to 
America.  "  Only  an  Immigrant  "  was  the  caption  of  that  car- 
toon, and  it  told  of  hopes  and  longings  of  fathers  —  tens  of 
thousands  of  them  —  in  America,  toiling  hard  and  long  that  the 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS 


45 


wife  and  little  ones  may  have  a  better  chance.  Those  new- 
comers in  the  wreck  were  of  that  number  ;  but  before  they  reached 
the  haven  of  hope,  they  were  in  eternity,  and  not  a  line  written 
home  to  loved  ones.  There  is  no  heart  under  the  sun  bigger 
than  the  American  heart ;  but  it  often  forgets  that  the  immi- 
grant is  a  man  with  the  same  sentiments  and  affections  as  other 
men. 

The  American  Pace.  —  Another  impression  made  upon  the 
immigrant  is  that  of  the  pace  at  which  everything  moves  in 
America.  Europeans  move  leisurely,  and  especially  is  this  the 
case  among  peoples  of  southeastern  Europe.  A  Hungarian 
thought  it  a  great  joke  when  he  heard  an  American  say,  "  It 
takes  not  only  money,  but  time."  The  proverb,  "  Time  is 
money"  is  incomprehensible  to  an  inhabitant  of  the  Balkans; 
and  an  Italian  tradesman  who  stops  work  to  discuss  with  the 
passer-by  the  topic  of  the  day  has  no  conception  of  the  value 
of  time.  But  when  they  come  to  America  they  soon  learn  that 
time  is  an  important  factor  in  every  department  of  life.  The 
first  sentences  learned  by  many  foreigners  in  the  industries  are 
"  hurry  up,"  "  move  quickly,"  "  rush,"  "  speed  on,"  etc.  In 
trains,  on  trolleys,  crossing  streets,  the  foreigners  soon  learn 
that  the  pace  they  observed  in  Europe  will  not  do  here.  In 
restaurants,  hotels,  and  coffee  houses  in  Europe,  men  take  life  easy ; 
they  come  to  chat,  lounge,  and  sip  coffee.  But  in  restaurants, 
hotels,  and  cafes  in  America  men  eat  and  drink  at  the  same 
pace  as  they  do  their  work.  When  the  immigrant  enters  the 
shop  or  the  factory,  the  mill  or  the  mine,  there  he  comes  face  to 
face  with  the  stress  and  strain  of  American  workmanship.  The 
pace  in  workshops  is  confusing,  and  it  takes  some  time  before 
the  foreigners  get  used  to  it,  and  before  they  get  accustomed  to 
the  drive  many  of  them  are  hurt.  They  are  children  of  the 
farm,  where  they  are  not  trained  to  think  quickly  and  move 
rapidly.  When  they  are  warned  of  danger,  or  where  they  see  it 
pending,  they  cannot  escape  injury  as  men  who  think  and  act 
more  quickly  can.  Here  lies  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  large 
number  of  accidents  to  the  foreign-born  in  the  industries. 

Don't  like  the  Rush.  —  The  immigrants  don't  like  the  rush 


46 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


of  things  in  America ;  many  of  them  fall  in  with  it  because  of 
necessity,  but  though  they  make  their  home  in  this  country, 
they  ever  condemn  the  stress  and  strain  of  industrial  life  in 
the  United  States.  J.  F.  Fraser  says  that  the  pace  set  in  the 
industries  of  America  accoimts  for  the  fact  that  "  in  big  indus- 
trial concerns,  you  seldom  see  an  old  man."  "  In  energy,  in 
whirl,  in  desire  to  do  things  passable  and  quickly,  to  turn  out 
articles  by  the  million  .  .  .  the  workers  of  the  United  States 
stand  at  the  head  of  mankind."  ^  It  is  this  stress  that  drives 
many  foreigners  back  to  the  fatherland  and  others  into  lines  of 
work  where  the  pressure  is  not  felt.  ItaUans,  Greeks,  Arme- 
nians, Jews,  Syrians,  etc.,  do  not  readily  adapt  themselves  to 
the  whirl  in  factories,  and  prefer  a  small  business  to  which 
they  devote  fourteen  hours  a  day  for  seven  days  in  the  week, 
but  in  which  they  do  not  feel  the  strain  incident  to  the  drive  in 
American  workshops. 

Standards  of  Living.  —  The  immigrant  is  also  impressed  with 
the  standard  of  li\-ing  of  American  wage  earners.  Never  did 
they  see  men  working  for  hire  live  as  comfortably  as  they  do 
here,  and  they  infer  that  it  is  a  rich  country  and  a  pleasant  place 
to  dwell  in.  This  is  not  strange,  for  the  men  of  the  new  immi- 
gration come  from  countries  where  the  conflict  for  subsistence 
is  severe,  and  where  many  honest  workers  come  short  of  the 
necessaries  of  life.  "  In  the  mountains  of  Montenegro  it  is  a 
struggle  to  get  enough  to  eat  and  a  roof  overhead  .  .  .  com 
comes  chiefly  from  the  lower  plains  and  there  is  often  lack  of 
bread."  ^  The  struggle  for  bread  in  Galicia  is  still  more  intense. 
WTien  these  poor  people  come  and  see  how  wage  earners  in  the 
United  States  live  in  commodious  houses  well  furnished  and 
surrounded  with  comforts,  how  well  they  dress  and  Uve,  how 
many  luxuries  they  enjoy  which  are  not  within  reach  of  the 
well-to-do  in  agricultural  coimtries  in  the  south  and  east  of 
Europe,  they  are  impressed  with  the  wealth  of  the  land  and  the 
happy  lot  of  its  workmen.  And  the  foreigner  is  soon  influenced 
by  this  higher  standard  of  Living.    Many  cling  tenaciously  to 

1  ".\merica  at  Work,"  pp.  190  and  258. 

*  "Through  the  Lands  of  the  Serbs,"  p.  277.    M.  E.  Durham. 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS  47 

the  standards  which  obtained  in  the  land  of  their  birth,  but 
they  soon  find  that  the  hard  work  demanded  of  them  necessi- 
tates better  nourishment  than  they  were  wont  to  take  in  the 
homeland,  so  they  eat  more  meat  and  a  greater  variety  of 
vegetables ;  but  they  never  will  rise  to  the  level  of  the  standard 
of  living  of  the  native-born  wage  earner.  Indeed,  many  for- 
eigners would  have  conscientious  scruples  about  eating  as  many 
Americans  do.  Many  Italians  and  Greeks  think  it  next  to  mortal 
sin  to  eat  eggs,  meat,  butter,  and  cheese  at  one  and  the  same  meal. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  anxiety  to  save  leads  many  aliens  to 
cut  down  their  means  of  subsistence  below  the  line  of  physical 
necessity,  but  it  is  equally  true  that  the  variety  of  rich  food 
found  on  the  table  of  American  workmen  far  exceeds  the  need 
of  the  physical  organism.  If  the  one  suffers  for  the  want  of 
sufficient  nourishment,  and  has  recourse  to  stimulants,  so  does 
the  other  suffer  from  superfluity,  and  has  recourse  to  bitters. 
The  extremes  of  want  and  luxuries  meet  in  physical  deterioration. 

They  object  to  Waste.  —  The  immigrant  also  has  little 
sjonpathy  with  the  waste  which  is  common  in  American  homes. 
Never,  possibly,  in  the  history  of  the  world  have  men  in  the 
common  walks  of  life  been  blessed  with  the  boimties  of  nature 
as  in  America,  and  it  is  also  true  that  never  have  men  been  so 
wasteful.  The  men  of  the  new  immigration  will  use  the  gifts  of 
nature  more  carefully  and  less  wastefully  than  those  of  the  old 
immigration.  They  bring  with  them  a  larger  measure  of  the 
virtue  of  thrift ;  it  is  ingrained  in  their  nature  by  the  hard  dis- 
cipline of  want  in  the  fatherland.  If  this  new  immigrant  wage 
earner  will  teach  the  native-born  to  live  more  economically  and 
use  less  prodigally  the  gifts  of  nature,  it  will  be  a  contribution 
to  the  economic  life  of  the  nation  that  is  worth  while.  All 
wage  earners  in  America  agree  that  it  is  not  as  easy  to  make 
a  living  to-day  as  it  was  twenty  years  ago,  and  the  dollar  does 
not  go  as  far  now  as  it  did  then.  The  conflict  for  subsistence  on 
the  part  of  the  wage  earner  is  growing  more  stern  as  we  increase 
in  numbers  and  industrial  life  becomes  more  complicated,  and 
the  fact  must  be  faced  that  the  vast  army  of  workers  must  live 


48 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


more  economically  if  peace  and  well-being  are  to  prevail.  The 
immigrant  has  the  advantage  in  this  respect,  for  he  is  careful 
and  makes  the  best  use  of  the  resources  at  his  command. 

One  Law  for  All.  —  There  are  other  impressions  made  upon 
the  immigrants,  but  the  ones  described  are  the  most  important 
as  bearing  upon  the  relation  of  this  man  to  the  new  world. 
America  cannot  afford  to  wrong  immigrants  nor  let  them  be 
robbed ;  it  cannot  afford  to  connive  at  pitfalls  for  unwary  for- 
eigners nor  shield  the  criminals  who  oppress  the  stranger  within 
our  gates;  it  cannot  afford  to  have  its  streets  desecrated  by 
violence  to  innocent  aliens,  nor  its  shops  stained  by  the  blood 
of  the  sluggish  newcomer;  it  can  afford  to  learn  something  of 
immigrants,  and  their  good  will  and  friendliness  will  be  enlisted 
in  behalf  of  all  that  is  best  and  noblest  in  America  if  there  be  in 
the  land  one  law  for  the  home-  and  the  foreign-born.  "All  men 
are  born  equal  "  is  the  ground  upon  which  the  immigrant  asks  for 
a  square  deal,  and  every  genuine  American  beheves  that  he 
ought  to  get  it  as  he  enters  the  land  and  as  long  as  he  abides 
in  it. 


PART  II 


INDUSTRIAL  LIFE 
CHAPTER  IV 

THE  INDUSTRIES  THEY  ENTER 

The  new  immigration  in  one  respect  differs  very  markedly 
from  the  old;  the  percentage  of  farmers  and  farm  laborers  in 
this  new  stream  is  sixfold  what  it  was  in  the  old.^  In  the  last 
decade,  the  countries  of  southeastern  Europe  have  sent  us  two 
and  a  half  million  men,  who,  in  the  old  country,  were  tillers  of 
the  soil ;  but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  number  following  that 
occupation  in  the  new  world  is  insignificant.  They  are  employed 
in  industrial  plants,  in  which  their  labor  brings  quick  returns, 
and  if  dissatisfied  with  wages  and  conditions  they  can,  in  a  day, 
pull  up  stakes  and  go  elsewhere.  The  new  immigration  con- 
sequently contains  more  unskilled  workers  than  the  old.  The 
vast  majority  of  men  entering  the  industries  do  so  as  unskilled 
laborers.  Fifty-five  per  cent  of  the  old  immigration  was  un- 
skilled, but  the  percentage  of  the  unskilled  workers  in  the 
new  is  8i.  In  the  last  ten  years,  no  fewer  than  six  million  un- 
skilled workers  have  been  recruited  into  the  industrial  army  of 
the  United  States  —  a  phenomenon  unprecedented  in  the  his- 
tory of  any  industrial  nation  in  the  world.  This  was  possible 
for  the  reason  that  America  is  not  handicapped  by  convention- 

'  In  the  old  immigration  the  average  percentage  of  farmers  and  farm  laborers 
was  10.7.  The  Irish  are  omitted  from  the  count,  for  they  resembled  the  new  immi- 
gration in  having  more  than  half  their  numbers  farm  laborers.  In  the  new 
immigration  the  average  percentage  of  farmers  and  farm  laborers  is  68.7.  The 
Hebrew  are  omitted  from  this  count  for  they  resemble  the  old  immigration  in  having 
more  than  half  their  number  trained  in  manufacturing.  —  See  Table  VII  in 
addenda. 

B  49 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


ality  and  tradition  in  industrial  relations ;  its  genius  for  indus- 
trial organization  is  most  highly  developed ;  and  the  practice 
of  installing  improved  machinery  and  standardization  of  prod- 
ucts, so  common  in  the  United  States,  reduce  complicated 
operations  to  simple  mechanical  action,  demanding  a  minimum 
of  intelligence  in  the  operator  —  these  facts  enabled  the  unskilled 
southeastern  Europeans  to  find  a  place  in  our  industrial  army. 

America  needed  Laborers.  —  America,  two  generations  ago, 
was  an  agricultural  nation ;  to-day  it  stands  in  the  van  of  the 
industrial  nations  of  the  earth.  This  marvelous  development, 
the  astonishment  of  the  civilized  world,  could  never  have  taken 
place,  if  Europe  and  Asia  had  not  supplied  the  labor  force. 
From  1880  to  1905  the  total  capital  in  manufacturing  plants 
increased  nearly  fivefold,  the  value  of  the  products  increased 
more  than  two  and  a  half  times,  and  the  labor  force  about 
doubled.^  America  could  never  have  finished  its  transconti- 
nental railroads,  developed  its  coal  and  ore  deposits,  operated 
its  furnaces  and  factories,  had  it  not  drawn  upon  Europe  for 
its  labor  force;  for  it  was  impossible  to  secure  "white  men" 
to  do  this  work.  The  same  is  true  in  almost  all  our  industries. 
While  talking  to  a  patriotic  employer  in  the  business  of  tanning, 
employing  1500  men — all  foreigners,  I  asked  him,  "  Do  you 
prefer  this  class  of  labor?"  "No,"  was  his  reply,  "but  I 
can't  get  anything  else.  The  Irish  and  the  Germans  are  gone ; 
if  this  plant  is  to  run,  Italians,  Lithuanians,  and  Poles  must  do 
the  work."  American  industry  had  a  place  for  the  stolid, 
strong,  submissive,  and  patient  Slav  and  Finn;  it  needed  the 
mercurial  ItaKan  and  Roumanian;  there  was  much  coarse, 
rough,  and  heavy  work  to  do  in  mining  and  construction  camps ; 
in  tunnel  and  railroad  building ;  around  smelters  and  furnaces, 
etc.,  and  nowhere  in  the  world  could  employers  get  laborers 
so  well  adapted  to  their  need,  as  in  the  countries  of  southeastern 
Europe.  The  new  immigration  has  admirably  supplied  the 
need,  and  at  present,  there  is  not  an  industrial  community  east 
of  the  Mississippi  and  north  of  the  Ohio  and  Potomac  rivers, 
where  the  "  foreigners  "  are  not  found. 

»  See  Table  VIII  in  addenda. 


THE  INDUSTRIES  THEY  ENTER 


51 


Foreigners  in  Industries.  —  Louis  N.  Hammerling,  President 
of  the  American  Association  of  Foreign  Newspapers,  appearing 
before  the  Federal  Commission  on  Immigration,  said :  — 

(1)  Sixty -five  per  cent  of  the  farmers  owning  farms  and 
working  as  farm  laborers  are  people  who  came  from  Europe 
during  the  last  thirty  years. 

(2)  Of  the  890,000  miners,  mining  the  coal  to  operate  the 
great  industries,  630,000  are  our  people. 

(3)  Of  the  580,000  steel  and  iron  workers  employed  in  the 
different  plants  throughout  the  United  States,  69  per  cent, 
according  to  the  latest  statistics  of  the  steel  and  iron  industries, 
are  our  people. 

(4)  Ninety  per  cent  of  the  labor  employed  for  the  last  thirty 
years  in  building  the  railways  has  been  furnished  by  our  immi- 
grant people,  who  are  now  keeping  the  same  in  repair.  ^ 

Senator  Dillingham,  of  Vermont,  said  that  the  Immigration 
Commission  investigated  the  leading  industries  in  a  geographical 
area,  interviewing  619,000  employees,  employed  in  thirty-seven 
industries,  and  found  that  59.5  per  cent  were  foreign-born.  In 
view  of  this  fact  The  New  York  Observer  fittingly  remarked 
that,  "  the  increase  of  our  manufacturing  industries  reveals  a 
debt  to  these  foreigners.  It  is  apparent  that  without  these 
foreign-born  laborers  the  growth  of  the  nation  would  be 
handicapped." 

Nationalities  in  Specieil  Industries.  —  Some  nationalities  fol- 
low certain  callings.  The  Bravas  and  Portuguese  are  in  the 
textile  industries ;  the  Cubans  and  Spanish  in  cigar  manufac- 
turing ;  the  Mexicans  in  mining  and  railroading  in  the  south- 
west ;  the  Finns  are  in  iron  ore  and  copper  mining,  and  smelt- 
ing plants ;  the  French  Canadians  in  cotton  mills,  shoe  plants, 
collar  factories,  on  railroads  and  in  construction  camps;  the 
Slovaks  and  the  Russians  are  in  coal  mining  and  in  iron  and  steel 
plants ;  the  Russian  Jews  are  in  the  clothing  trades ;  the  Mag- 
yars are  in  coal  mining,  sugar  refining  plants,  in  steel  and  plow 
plants,  and  in  silk  dyeing ;  the  Lithuanians  are  in  coal  mining, 

'  Hearing  before  Committee  of  Immigration  and  Naturalization,  House  of 
Representatives,  Sixty-first  Congress,  p.  128. 


52 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


sugar  and  oil  refining,  clothing  manufacturing,  slaughtering 
and  meat  packing,  and  furniture  plants ;  the  Roumanians  are 
in  steel  plants,  repair  shops,  and  in  construction  work ;  the 
Croatians,  Montenegrins,  Bulgarians,  are  in  steel  plants,  coal 
and  ore  mining,  slaughtering  and  meat  packing,  leather  manu- 
facturing, and  oil  refining ;  while  the  Poles  and  South  Italians 
are  in  almost  every  line  of  mining  and  manufacturing.^ 

In  the  Clothing  Industry.  —  The  Lithuanians  of  Baltimore 
are  largely  in  the  clothing  trade,  and  when,  in  1909,  they  called 
a  strike,  the  clothing  business  was  paralyzed.  I  called  on  one 
of  their  labor  leaders  and  asked :  "  Can  you  control  the  cloth- 
ing trade  in  the  city?  "  "  Yes,"  was  his  reply,  "  the  business 
cannot  go  on  if  the  Lithuanians  stay  away."  This  may  be  too 
sweeping  an  assertion,  but  some  operators  of  large  establish- 
ments acknowledged  the  truth  of  this  statement.  It  is  true, 
however,  that  the  foreign-born  control  the  trade.  The  census 
of  1900  showed  that  75  per  cent  of  the  tailors  of  the  country 
were  foreign-born.  The  investigation  of  the  Immigration  Com- 
mission showed  72.2  per  cent  of  the  workers  in  the  clothing 
trades  foreign-born,  and  another  22.4  per  cent  was  made  up  of 
the  children  of  foreign-born  parents ;  thus  94.6  per  cent  of  the 
men  and  women  who  manufacture  ready-made  garments  are 
of  foreign  parentage.  Rousseau  said  of  his  Emile,  that  he  would 
rather  see  him  dig  than  ply  the  needle  and  that  a  young  lad 
should  never  aspire  to  be  a  tailor ;  the  above  statistics  imply 
that  there  is  a  like  aversion  on  the  part  of  the  native-bom  to 
the  tailoring  trade ;  they  leave  it  wholly  to  persons  of  foreign 
parentage  —  Jews,  Italians,  Lithuanians,  etc. 

In  Disagreeable  "Work.  —  No  other  industry  is  so  completely 
in  the  hands  of  the  foreign-born  as  the  clothing,  and  yet  they 
are  found  in  large  numbers  in  other  occupations.  Wherever 
unskilled  work  is  needed,  the  foreigner  is  the  one  who  does  it ; 
but  the  managing  force  is  generally  made  up  of  the  native-born 
or,  at  least,  of  English-speaking  peoples.  In  the  clothing  trade 
the  foreign-born  is  a  skilled  workman ;  in  every  other  industry 

>  See  Abstract  of  Report  of  Immigration  Commission  on  "Immigrants  in  Manu- 
facturing and  Mining,"  pp.  58  and  219  f. 


THE  INDUSTRIES  THEY  ENTER 


53 


he  is  the  man  who  carries  the  heavy  burden  —  he  is  the  toiler, 
the  drudge,  the  "  choreman."  In  the  slaughtering  and  meat 
packing  industry,  the  foreign-born  comprise  about  60  per  cent 
of  the  labor  force,  but  if  you  want  to  locate  the  sons  of  the  new 
immigration  in  a  plant  of  this  character,  you  must  descend  to 
the  pits  where  the  hides  are  cured,  generally  located  in  dark 
and  damp  basements.  The  hides  are  piled  on  each  other, 
and  the  foreigners  shake,  count,  and  pack  the  slimy,  slippery, 
disgusting  things.  Go  to  the  fertilizing  plant  where  the  refuse 
of  the  slaughter  house  is  assembled,  and  amid  the  malodorous 
smells  which  combine  into  one  rank  stench  tabooed  by  all 
English-speaking  men,  you  find  the  foreigner.  Go  to  the  soap 
department,  where  the  fats  are  reduced  and  the  alkalis  are  mixed 
—  a  place  you  smell  from  afar  and  wish  to  escape  from  as 
soon  as  possible,  and  there  the  foreigner  is  found.  These  dis- 
agreeable occupations  "  white  people  "  have  forsaken,  and  the 
sons  of  the  new  immigration  do  the  work  uncomplainingly  for 
$1.50  a  day. 

In  Construction  Camps.  —  While  riding  on  a  Fourth  Avenue 
car,  in  the  city  of  New  York,  I  saw  a  number  of  "  foreigners  " 
entering  the  car,  to  the  disgust  of  a  fastidious  lady,  who  ex- 
pressed her  sentiments  in  a  very  imladylike  way.  An  old 
Irish  woman  sat  next  to  her  and  said :  "  And  what  would  ye  do 
without  the  foreigner?  "  The  superintendent  of  a  chilled  steel 
wheel  plant,  where  many  foreigners  earned  from  $3  to  $5  a  day, 
expressed  the  same  sentiment  when  he  said,  "  You  can't  get 
English-speaking  men  to  do  the  work."  Wherever  digging, 
excavating,  constructing,  machine  molding,  and  mining  go 
on,  there  we  find  the  foreign-born.  The  patient,  willing,  and 
constant  labor  of  the  Italians  made  possible  the  subways  of 
the  great  metropolis  of  the  nation;  the  Bronx  Sewer  was  dug 
by  Italians,  Austrians,  and  Russians.  These  are  the  workers 
who  enlarge  the  Barge  Canal  and  build  the  Aqueduct  to  carry 
an  adequate  supply  of  water  to  the  millions  of  New  York  City. 
In  lumber  camps,  in  mine  patches,  in  railroad  construction  work, 
the  foreigner  is  found.  He  displaces  colored  labor  in  construction 
camps  in  the  South ;  and,  in  the  West,  he  does  the  unskilled  labor 


54 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


unless  a  legal  barrier  has  been  erected  to  keep  him  out.  The  labor 
force  in  the  woods  of  Michigan  and  Minnesota,  of  Maine  and 
Vermont,  is  preponderatingly  made  up  of  foreigners.  Tens  of 
thousands  of  these  men,  in  isolated  camps  and  mine  patches, 
far  removed  from  the  pale  of  civiUzation,  deprived  of  the  com- 
forts and  conveniences  of  life,  submit  to  barbarous  conditions 
and  harsh  treatment  that  would  raise  a  revolt  within  a  week 
if  English-speaking  men  were  the  victims. 

Foreigners  in  Mines.  —  The  aUens  are  the  backbone  of  the 
mining  industry.  Calumet,  in  the  northern  peninsula  of  Mich- 
igan, is  a  foreign  city  of  45,000  souls.  There  are  sixteen  different 
nationalities  represented  on  the  public  school  teaching  force, 
and  the  pupils  in  the  high  school  represented  twenty  different 
races.  It  is  difl&cult  to  find  an  American  in  the  place.  The 
workers  go  down  into  deep  shafts,  reaching  far  under  Lake 
Superior,  following  the  veins  of  copper  —  all  virtually  foreign- 
born  or  the  descendants  of  foreign-born  parents.  If  you  want 
to  find  the  native-born,  you  must  go  to  Houghton,  the  capital 
of  the  county,  where  the  doctors  and  lawyers,  engineers  and 
professors,  retired  capitalists  and  the  leisure  class,  live.  In 
Ishpeming,  one  of  the  centers  of  iron  ore  mining,  we  went  down 
one  of  the  shafts  to  see  the  way  they  followed  the  hidden  pockets 
of  ore,  which  have  puzzled  the  skill  of  geologists.  Our  guide 
was  the  captain  of  that  mine,  in  which  280  men  were  employed. 
I  asked  him,  "  How  many  foreigners  are  in  this  mine?  "  His 
reply  was,  "  We're  all  that  here."  "  How  many  of  your  men 
are  able  to  talk  EngHsh,  so  that  you  can  get  along?  "  "  About 
50  per  cent,"  was  his  answer.  And  it  is  the  same  in  the  min- 
ing camps  all  through  this  upper  peninsula  of  Michigan.  The 
men  who  dig  the  ore,  load  it  and  clean  it,  who  burn  the  powder 
and  remove  the  rock,  who  crawl  through  dog  holes  and  climb 
numberless  ladders,  are  foreigners.  The  only  crowd  met  with 
in  the  territory  not  of  foreign  parentage  are  the  young  college 
graduates,  incipient  civil  engineers,  who  put  into  practice  the 
theories  they  were  taught  in  college.  These  are  native-born 
of  native  parentage,  and  so  are  also  the  10  or  15  per  cent 
employees  enlisted  in  the  clerical,  supervisory,  and  managing 


THE  INDUSTRIES  THEY  ENTER 


55 


force ;  such  as  engineers,  mechanics,  and  company  store  man- 
agers. But  the  80  per  cent  in  the  pits,  in  the  face,  around  the 
shafts,  are  men  of  foreign  parentage. 

In  Coal  Mines.  —  The  same  is  true,  generally  speaking,  of  the 
coal  mining  industry.  The  only  e.xception  in  the  Alleghany 
range  is  the  Cumberland  Coal  Fields,  where  few  foreigners  are 
found.  They  have  been  kept  out,  just  the  same  as  they  have 
been  from  parts  of  the  Hocking  Valley.  It  was  done  by  the 
English-speaking  mine  workers,  who  have  found  favorable 
working  conditions  in  these  rich  coal  fields,  and  as  primes  occu- 
pantes  they  know  how  to  hang  on.  Things  are  very  different, 
however,  in  the  coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania,  West  Virginia,  and 
southern  Illinois.  Here  town  after  town  may  be  found,  made 
up  of  foreigners,  and  hundreds  of  pits,  slopes,  and  levels  are 
wholly  dependent  upon  their  labor.  When  immigrants  first 
located  in  the  anthracite  coal  fields,  they  came  to  the  southern 
and  Lehigh  regions.  The  employers  in  the  Wyoming  Valley 
would  have  none  of  them,  and  for  years  they  stopped  the  flood 
from  entering  their  territory.  It  was  only  a  question  of  time, 
however,  when  they  had  to  give  way.  The  seams  changed, 
there  was  more  brawn  needed,  more  powder  per  ton  of  coal 
must  be  burned,  and  "  white  men  "  refused  to  work  under  con- 
ditions that  meant  more  labor,  more  expense,  and  less  pay. 
Then  they  called  in  the  willing  Slav  and  submissive  Lithuanian, 
and  the  work  was  done.  They  bent  their  stron;'-  young  backs 
under  the  load,  and  black  diamond  has  been  dug  from  deeper 
depths,  from  smaller  seams,  and  from  more  dangerous  places 
by  men  of  the  new  immigration  than  was  done  by  the  men  of 
the  old. 

In  Pits  and  Quarries.  —  The  growth  of  the  bituminous  in- 
dustry, its  matchless  development  in  the  last  forty  years,  was 
only  possible  by  the  incoming  of  men  from  southeastern  Europe. 
In  the  coal  fields  of  West  Virginia,  25  per  cent  of  the  working 
force  is  made  up  of  Slavs  and  Italians,  and  the  employers  want 
more  of  this  class  of  workers,  for  they  are  more  reliable  and 
steadier  than  the  negro,  and  more  amenable  to  discipline  and 
better  workers  than  the  motmtain  whites.    The  Colorado  Fuel 


56 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


and  Iron  Company  has  found  in  the  man  of  the  new  immigra- 
tion an  employee  who  is  wilUng  to  live  and  labor  in  peace  and 
contentment  in  isolated  places.  When  visiting  Hibernia  and 
Wharton,  in  New  Jersey,  I  asked  the  general  manager  of  the 
six  shafts  where  iron  ore  was  mined,  "  What  people  compose 
your  working  force?  "  His  reply  was  :  "  Magyars,  Slovaks,  and 
Poles.  They  have  replaced  the  EngHsh,  Welsh,  and  Scotch." 
Small  mining  villages,  near  the  Richards  Mines,  are  wholly 
made  up  of  these  peoples,  and  they  are  like  hundreds  of  mine 
patches  in  the  coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania.  In  the  marble 
quarries  of  Vermont — Barry,  Montpelier,  Proctor,  etc.,  are 
found  representatives  of  sixteen  different  nationahties.  The 
foreigner  is  down  in  the  hole,  handling  the  raw  material ;  he  is 
in  the  yards  and  in  the  shops,  doing  the  chores  incident  to 
marble  production,  and  the  finished  article  is  the  work  of  his 
hands.  FuUy  60  per  cent  of  the  labor  force  in  the  mining  and 
quarrying  industries  are  foreign-born,  another  20  per  cent  are 
the  sons  of  foreign-born  men.  When  the  coal  production  of 
the  country  leaped  from  70,000,000  tons  in  1880  to  500,000,000 
in  1910,  it  was  the  presence  of  the  Slav  and  the  Lithuanian, 
the  Magyar  and  the  Italian,  that  made  it  possible. 

In  Iron  and  Steel  Industries.  —  In  the  iron  and  steel  in- 
dustries, the  foreigners  form  58  per  cent  of  the  employees,  and 
another  14  per  cent  is  made  up  of  the  sons  of  foreigners.  Here 
again  they  occupy  places  where  most  dirt  and  heat  are  found. 
Around  blast  furnaces,  where  seven  shifts  of  twelve  hours  each  is 
the  week's  round  of  toU,  these  men  for  twenty  years  did  the  work 
quietly  and  faithfully,  and  not  a  voice  was  raised  against  the 
load  that  brutalized  men  and  crushed  aU  the  aspirations  of 
man's  soul  —  the  protest  came  from  a  band  of  patriotic,  God- 
fearing men  and  women,  who  called  attention  to  the  wrongs 
inflicted  upon  foreigners  in  America.  In  iron  and  brass  fovm- 
dries,  where  machine  molding  is  carried  on,  the  foreigners  form 
from  80  to  90  per  cent  of  the  labor  force.  The  American  Car  and 
Foundry  Company  has  seventeen  plants ;  in  the  ones  located  in 
the  northern  and  middle  states  fuUy  50  per  cent  of  the  working 
force  is  foreign-bom.  In  the  Berwick  plant,  twenty-two  different 


THE  INDUSTRIES  THEY  ENTER 


57 


nationalities  are  found,  and  the  percentage  of  foreign-born  is 
over  60.  In  the  yards,  where  much  heavy  lifting  and  shifting 
is  done,  the  force  is  wholly  foreign.  In  that  part  of  the  works 
where  the  heavy  parts  of  the  cars  are  hoisted,  placed,  adjusted, 
reamed  and  riveted,  the  foreigners  are  in  the  majority;  where 
red  and  black  paints  are  used,  foreign-born  hands  daub  it  on 
cars  —  and  clothes ;  it  is  only  when  we  enter  the  shops,  where 
the  more  refined  work  of  finishing  subway  cars  and  coaches 
is  done,  that  the  foreigner  disappears  and  the  native-born 
worker  is  in  the  majority. 

In  Plow  Plants.  —  The  same  is  true  of  the  personnel  of 
employees  in  plow  plants  located  in  Chicago,  South  Bend, 
Moline,  East  Moline,  and  Rock  Island.  In  one  of  these  plants 
in  the  latter  place,  the  percentage  of  foreign-born  men  was  more 
than  70.  In  the  foundry  the  Belgians  predominated,  and  the 
foreman  said,  "They  like  this  work  —  they  like  the  dirt."  In 
the  grinding  department,  where  the  sparks  fly  and  the  air  is 
laden  with  particles  of  steel  dust,  all  are  foreigners.  In  one 
of  these  grinding  rooms  150  men  were  employed,  swinging  to 
and  fro  the  various  parts  of  the  plow  to  polish  the  steel  blade, 
amid  a  roar  and  a  clatter  that  was  deafening,  and  not  one  of 
them  English-speaking,  not  to  mention  native-born.  In  an- 
other department,  where  the  casting  was  clipped  and  cleaned, 
and  where  minor  parts  were  put  on  the  emory  wheel,  the  for- 
eigners predominated.  A  lonely  Irishman  —  an  old  man  —  was 
the  last  of  his  race  in  that  shop ;  and  his  comment  was :  "  The 
foreigners  take  everything.  I  hang  on,  for  it's  late  in  the  day 
for  me  to  change."  In  the  department  where  nuts  and  bolts 
were  made,  where  powerful  machinery  bent  and  twisted  red 
ribbons  of  iron  and  steel  to  the  proper  shape,  and  where  hammers 
stamped  by  one  mighty  blow  a  sheet  of  steel  into  the  required 
angle  —  here  the  employees  were  English-speaking,  and  many 
of  them  were  native-born. 

On  Railroads  and  Docks.  —  Tens  of  thousands  of  men  of 
the  new  immigration  are  in  the  employment  of  the  railroad 
companies  in  North  America.  In  the  railroad  car  shops,  in 
the  machine  shops  and  round  houses,  39  per  cent  of  the  employ- 


58 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


ees  are  foreign-born,  and  another  24  per  cent  are  sons  of  foreign- 
born  parents.  The  employees,  in  the  maintenance  of  way  de- 
partment, in  railroads  traversing  the  north  Atlantic  and  north 
Central  states,  are  54  per  cent  foreign-born.  The  Italians  are  in 
the  lead,  but  representatives  of  seventeen  peoples  from  southeast- 
ern Europe  are  found  among  the  working  force.  A  census  taken 
in  1909,  of  six  centers  on  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  and  West- 
ern Railroad,  showed  2950  foreigners  in  its  employ.  The  races 
represented  were :  Italians,  1515;  Poles,  1240;  Austrians,  88; 
Slovaks,  90;  and  Hungarians,  17.  In  railroad  yards,  the  men 
who  handle  the  oils  and  the  grease,  the  ashes  and  the  coal,  the  ice 
and  the  snow,  are  the  foreigners.  On  the  lakes  and  in  our  coast 
traflSc  the  foreign-born  form  a  large  percentage  of  the  employees. 
The  New  York  State  Immigration  Commission  found  that 
80  per  cent  of  the  cattle  men  attending  the  ships  transporting 
cattle  across  the  sea  are  men  of  the  new  immigration.  On  the 
lakes  the  foreigners  are  in  the  majority.  The  men  employed 
on  the  ore  boats  and  ore  docks  are  foreign-born.  The  Finns 
and  Swedes  were  largely  employed  up  to  1890,  then  the  new 
immigrants  began  to  displace  them,  and  to-day  thousands  of 
Magyars  and  Slavs  live  in  small  port  towns. 

In  Brick  and  Clay  "Works. — Many  foreigners  are  employed 
in  brick  plants.  Along  the  Hudson,  where  there  are  many 
brickyards,  the  foreigner  is  displacing  the  negro,  who  used  to 
come  up  from  the  South  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year  to  do  this 
work.  In  plants  making  refractory  brick,  the  men  doing  the 
heavy  work  are  the  Slavs  and  the  Italians.  In  Barberton,  Ohio, 
the  Sewer  Pipe  Company  has  a  large  plant  emplojdng  300  men, 
and  two-thirds  of  them  are  foreign-speaking.  This  is  a  foreign 
town,  and  every  industry  in  it  depends  largely  upon  foreigners 
for  its  labor  force.  The  Pittsbxirgh  Valve  Company,  the  Boiler 
Works,  the  Chemical  Works,  and  the  plant  of  the  Diamond 
Match  Company,  each  drew  from  30  to  50  per  cent  of  its  labor 
force  from  the  foreigners.  Pottery  works,  where  labor  is  well 
organized,  are  closed  to  the  foreign-speaking,  but  one  of  the  terra 
cotta  plants  in  Chicago  has  80  per  cent  of  the  laborers  foreign- 
born. 


THE  INDUSTRIES  THEY  ENTER 


59 


In  Textiles  and  Refineries.  —  The  peoples  of  the  new  immi- 
gration are  found  in  large  numbers  in  the  textile  industries,  in 
shoe  and  rubber  factories,  in  oil  and  sugar  refining  establish- 
ments, in  tanneries  and  furniture  plants.  Fifteen  hundred  for- 
eigners in  a  cotton  mill  in  New  England  rendered  efficient  serv- 
ice in  turning  out  all  woolen  blankets.  The  Greeks  in  Lowell 
and  Manchester,  in  Nashua  and  Lynn,  form  a  large  percentage 
of  the  mill  hands.  In  St.  Louis,  in  one  of  the  shoe  plants, 
fifty  Greeks  are  found  in  the  heel  department,  pounding  and 
twisting,  at  a  pace  that  is  truly  American,  and  the  manager 
said:  "  I  never  got  a  better  force  of  men  to  do  the  job."  The 
city  of  Bayonne,  where  oil  refining  is  carried  on,  is  a  foreign 
city,  resembling  a  port  town,  only  still  more  cosmopolitan.  The 
sugar  refining  plants  at  Greenpoint,  Jersey  City,  Philadelphia, 
etc.,  are  manned  by  foreign-born  labor. 

Some  Skilled  Workers.  —  All  the  men  of  the  new  immigra- 
tion are  not  unskilled.  WhUe  visiting  Ashokan  Dam,  in  New 
York  State,  I  went  into  the  smithy,  and  the  master  mechanic  said, 
pointing  to  the  head  blacksmith :  "  That  man  is  a  Russian,  and 
is  the  best  blacksmith  I  ever  had."  Mr.  Forsyth,  superinten- 
dent of  the  repair  shops  of  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy, 
at  Aurora,  111.,  pointed  out  a  Magyar,  of  whom  he  said:  "  He 
can  do  anything ;  if  he  has  no  tools  to  work  with,  he'll  set  to 
work  to  make  them."  A  Polander,  ignorant  of  the  English 
language,  but  a  skilled  mechanic,  came  to  Brooklyn,  N.Y.,  to 
look  for  employment.  He  had  to  begin  work  at  $5  a  week,  but 
as  his  knowledge  of  English  increased  his  wages  advanced,  and, 
within  six  months  he  was  getting  Si 5.  In  Concord,  N.H.,  an 
Armenian  who  was  a  printer  could  not  ply  his  craft  because 
he  was  a  foreigner  —  native-born  printers  refused  to  work  with 
him.  The  artists  in  the  marble  works  of  Vermont  are  Italians 
—  their  executions  adorn  a  thousand  cemeteries  and  buildings. 
The  old  immigration  brought  in  many  thousands  of  skilled  work- 
ers, and  the  number  of  skilled  and  semi-skilled  men  in  the  new 
immigration  is  larger  than  our  statistics  show.  The  farm  hand 
is  more  or  less  accustomed  to  work  in  wood  and  iron,  and  the 
ease  with  which  he  adapts  himself  to  work  in  shops  and  factories 


6o 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


in  the  United  States  is  due  to  this  training.  No  nation  has  a 
monopoly  of  mechanical  capacity;  there  is  much  of  it  in  the 
men  of  the  new  immigration,  although  so  large  a  percentage 
is  classified  as  "  unskilled  "  ;  American  employers  have  discov- 
ered this,  and  semi-skilled  positions  are  at  present  largely  manned 
by  Magyars,  Slovaks,  Italians,  etc.  Two  obstacles  stand  in 
the  way  of  a  larger  use  of  the  mechanical  capacity  of  immigrants 
—  ignorance  of  our  language  and  prejudice  against  the  foreign- 
ers in  shops,  factories,  and  unions. 

Foreigners  in  Trade  and  Commerce.  —  Among  the  new 
immigration  are  found  Russian  Hebrews,  Syrians,  Armenians, 
and  Greeks,  thousands  of  whom  do  not  take  their  place  in  the 
industrial  army,  but  who  show  remarkable  aptitude  for  trade 
and  commerce.  They  represent  peoples  who  have  survived 
the  rise  and  fall  of  kingdoms,  and  are  equally  at  home  among 
eastern  or  western  nations.  The  Syrians  and  Armenians  are 
scattered  over  the  land,  and  few  are  the  colonies  formed  by  them. 
The  Greeks  are  also  scattering  more  and  more  in  our  cities  and 
towns,  opening  restaurants,  candy  stores,  shoe-shining  parlors, 
and  conducting  fruit  stands.  In  South  Bend,  the  Stude- 
bakers  opened  their  shops  to  many  Jews,  giving  them  a  chance 
to  learn  a  trade.  The  superintendent  told  me,  "  They  only  stay  a 
little  while  —  as  I  walk  along  the  business  street,  I  recognize  Jews 
who  once  worked  here."  In  New  Haven,  the  shoemaking  and 
repairing  business  has  passed  almost  wholly  from  the  hands  of 
Germans  and  English-speaking  men  into  those  of  the  ItaUans.  In 
1910,  out  of  about  500  establishments,  450  were  in  the  hands 
of  Italians,  who  put  on  old  shoes  some  $5000  worth  of  leather  a 
week.  In  New  York  City,  and  indeed  in  every  city  of  any  con- 
siderable size,  along  the  lines  of  the  New  York  Central  Railroad 
as  far  as  Buffalo,  the  Italians  are  fast  monopolizing  the  barber 
trade.  The  push  cart  trade  of  New  York  City  is  in  the  hands 
of  Greeks,  and  it  is  affirmed  that  the  shoe-shining  parlors 
in  Chicago  are  in  the  hands  of  a  Greek  company,  which  reaps 
a  harvest  by  gathering  in  the  nickels  and  dimes.  In  these 
ancient  peoples  there  is  what  may  be  called  a  parasitic  streak, 
which  enables  them  to  live  by  catering  to  the  minor  wants  of 


THE  INDUSTRIES  THEY  ENTER 


6i 


Americans.  They  begin  by  working  in  a  factory,  but  it  is  only 
to  get  a  start ;  when  the  opportune  time  comes  they  launch 
into  business,  which  often  means  a  long  and  strenuous  struggle. 
Two  brothers,  Greeks,  began  work  in  a  mill  in  a  city  in  Illinois. 
They  saved  $2000  and  opened  a  store.  One  of  the  brothers 
attended  to  business,  and  the  other  kept  on  working  in  the  mill. 
For  the  first  few  years  it  was  nip  and  tuck  to  keep  floating. 
At  length  trade  came  their  way,  and  now  both  are  in  business. 
An  Armenian  who  had  left  one  of  the  New  England  mills  to 
open  a  small  restaurant  gave  as  his  reason  for  the  change :  "  The 
mill  was  too  much  like  prison."  The  blood  of  the  Orient  does 
not  like  the  pace  set  by  industrial  America.  The  Syrian  and 
Greek,  Armenian  and  Hebrew,  prefer  to  sit  at  a  small  stand 
for  sixteen  hours  a  day,  catching  the  trade  of  the  passers-by, 
in  hope  that  the  turn  of  the  tide  may  lead  them  to  fortune. 

Debt  to  the  Workers.  —  The  United  States  owes  much  to 
the  man  of  the  new  immigration.  No  true  American  will  with- 
hold the  meed  of  praise  due  this  man.  We  may  yearn  for  a 
more  intelligent  and  better  trained  worker  from  the  countries  of 
Europe,  but  it  is  questionable  whether  or  not  that  tjrpe  of  man 
would  have  been  so  well  fitted  for  the  work  America  had  to 
offer.  The  Slav  and  the  Magyar,  the  Italian  and  the  Lithu- 
anian, the  Hebrew  and  the  Roumanian,  the  Greek  and  the  Al- 
banian, supplied  the  call  for  men,  strong  of  body,  docile  of  heart, 
willing  in  disposition,  to  do  coarse,  dirty,  and  dangerous  work. 
The  consensus  of  opinion  of  superintendents  and  foremen 
who  have  used  these  men  is,  that  they  have  played  their  part 
with  a  devotion,  amenability,  and  steadiness  not  excelled  by  men 
of  the  old  immigration.  There  are  some  operators  who  mention 
exceptions,  but  they  are  few.  The  physical  endurance  of  the 
Slav  and  the  Italian  will  compare  favorably  with  that  of  the 
Irish  and  the  German ;  the  native  ability  of  the  Lithuanian 
and  the  Magyar  will  compare  favorably  with  that  of  men  of 
the  same  social  status  and  previous  training,  from  other  coun- 
tries of  Europe.  The  courage  and  loyalty  of  these  men  were 
tested  and  tried  and  not  found  wanting.  They  have  not  shrunk 
from  the  dangers  of  the  mines  nor  the  heat  of  the  mills ;  hun- 


62 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


dreds  of  them  have  been  killed  on  railroads ;  and  still  the  for- 
eigners do  the  work,  and  the  disagreeableness  of  foundries  and 
meat  packing  plants  has  no  deterring  effect  upon  them.  Let  us 
be  just  to  the  workers  of  the  new  immigration  and  pay  the  tribute 
of  praise  due  them  for  the  part  they  have  played  in  the  indus- 
trial expansion  of  which  we  are  proud. 


CHAPTER  V 


CONDITIONS  OF  WORK 

If  the  sweeping  interpretation  put  upon  the  Contract  Labor 
Law  were  strictly  enforced,  few  of  the  millions  who  have  come 
to  America  since  its  enactment  could  have  landed.  Laws  en- 
acted contrary  to  economic  forces  will  be  evaded.  Russia  and 
Turkey  do  not  recognize  the  right  of  people  to  emigrate,  and  yet 
there  are  thousands  of  their  subjects  in  North  America.  The 
Immigration  Commission  is  right  when  it  says :  "  It  may  be 
said  that  emigration  is  recognized  as  a  phenomenon  controlled 
almost  entirely  by  irresistible  economic  forces  which  practically 
compel  an  attitude  of  acquiesence  on  the  part  of  governments  " ; 
but  how  few  of  our  legislators  and  labor  leaders  believe  this? 
Napoleon  said  that  men  have  from  the  earliest  times  "  marched 
on  their  stomach,"  regardless  of  the  barriers  built  to  stop  them. 
Men,  half  starving  in  the  Balkans,  will  make  their  way  to  the 
land  of  plenty,  no  matter  what  laws  governments  will  pass. 
Every  letter  sent  to  Europe  is  an  inducement  to  an  immigrant 
to  come  to  the  new  world,  for  it  contains,  either  expressed  or 
implied,  the  promise  of  work.  Every  immigrant  who  comes 
confidently  believes  that  employment  awaits  him  as  soon  as 
he  reaches  his  friends.  The  greatest  labor  agency  in  the  coun- 
try is  the  blood  bond. 

Government  Help.  —  The  Division  of  Information  of  the  Im- 
migration Bureau  is  an  effort  in  the  right  direction.  It  has  in 
it  great  possibilities ;  but  hitherto  it  has  done  little  more,  in  the 
port  of  New  York,  than  offer  an  opportunity  of  work  to  immi- 
grants who  are  temporarily  detained.  If  branches  were  opened 
in  the  leading  cities  of  the  Union,  and  the  scope  of  its  services  en- 
larged, the  department  could  be  of  incalculable  benefit  to  new- 
comers who  have  not,  as  far  as  employment  is  concerned,  realized 
their  expectations. 

63 


64 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


Labor  Agencies.  —  The  labor  agencies  are  largely  used  by 
immigrants,  although  97  per  cent  go  directly  to  friends  who 
wilUngly  aid  them  to  secure  employment.  Of  course,  the  pa- 
drone system  still  plays  a  part  in  immigration,  notwithstanding 
all  efforts  to  crush  it.  It  is  a  part  of  the  industrial  system  in 
southeastern  European  countries,  and  if  wisely  and  honestly 
administered,  is  of  great  service  to  the  immigrant.  Many 
Italians  passing  through  Ellis  Island  carried  the  address  of  a 
party  in  Buffalo.  When  in  that  city,  I  went  to  the  address 
and  found  a  store  and  steamship  ticket  agency.  I  asked  the 
proprietor  the  whereabouts  of  ten  men  who  carried  the  address 
of  his  store.  He  at  first  did  not  seem  to  know  the  men;  then 
recollecting  some  of  the  names  he  said :  "  Gone  out  to  work  on 
road  and  in  camp."  Many  employers  in  the  mining  industry, 
the  iron  and  steel  industries,  raUroad  work,  quarrying,  etc., 
are,  in  prosperous  times,  looking  out  for  workers,  and  many 
foreigners  have  proven  themselves  very  efficient  as  agents  in 
this  respect.  A  superintendent  of  a  foundry  said  of  Mike,  a 
Hungarian  saloon-keeper :  "  He  never  fails  to  round  them  up  — 
he  has  a  rake-off,  but  we  get  the  men."  Another  foreman  said  : 
"  When  short  of  men  I  go  to  Maroff's  saloon  and  yank  in  the 
fellows."  The  manager  of  a  glass  plant  said  that  he  invariably 
went  to  the  saloon  to  round  up  the  men  he  needed,  and  he  sel- 
dom failed  to  get  them. 

Graft  in  Employment.  —  The  men  who  are  the  intermediaries 
between  employer  and  employee,  finding  jobs  for  newcomers 
who  could  not  themselves  find  work,  often  play  upon  the  cre- 
dulity and  anxieties  of  immigrants.  One  of  these  men,  in  a  city 
near  Chicago,  makes  a  study  of  the  labor  conditions  in  his  city. 
He  is  very  skillful  in  placing  men,  but  he  charges  each  $5  for  the 
job  found  him,  and  beginning  with  the  second  pay  he  charges 
$2.50  per  month  as  an  insurance  that  he  can  keep  it.  A  group 
of  Greeks,  working  in  a  railroad  yard  in  southern  Ohio,  were  in 
charge  of  a  leader  to  whom  the  company  paid  a  dollar  per  head 
for  the  men  he  secured.  Then  he  charged  each  Greek,  as  long 
as  he  worked  in  the  camp,  a  dollar  a  month  for  acting  as  inter- 
preter for  him.    The  leader  was  an  educated  man,  and  thought 


CONDITIONS  OF  WORK 


65 


that  the  money  he  collected  each  month  from  his  coimtrymen 
was  for  value  received.  In  Kansas  City  the  number  of  Greeks 
in  the  city  in  winter  is  more  than  double  what  it  is  in  summer. 
They  hibernate  here,  awaiting  the  opening  of  another  season; 
as  soon  as  work  begins  on  railroads,  the  agents  of  the  companies 
come  to  the  leaders,  agree  to  hire  so  many  men,  and  assign  them 
their  task.  This  is  done  in  every  large  city  in  the  north  and 
west  which  is  a  railroad  center. 

Hard  to  Find  Men.  —  When  times  are  prosperous  and  labor  is 
scarce,  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  for  certain  industries  to  secure 
a  complement  of  men  to  operate  the  plants.  Foremen  in  foun- 
dries, linoleum  factories,  and  tanneries,  where  the  work  is  dis- 
agreeable, even  to  men  who  "  like  dirt,"  found  considerable 
difficulty  in  1907  in  finding  an  adequate  supply  of  men.  In  the 
fall  of  that  year  the  manager  of  a  glass  factory  in  western 
Pennsylvania  offered  inducements  to  foreign  families  to  locate 
in  his  town ;  and  Jack  Shay,  manager  of  a  bituminous  coal 
company,  still  boasts  how  he  "  stole  "  a  troop  of  workers  con- 
signed to  a  rival  company,  by  boarding  the  immigrant  train 
before  it  reached  its  destination  and  offering  the  men  higher 
wages.  One  of  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  workers  in  the 
new  immigration  is  their  instability ;  they  move  from  place  to 
place  constantly;  the  vast  majority  of  foreigners  do  not  take 
root  in  the  place  where  they-  first  Uve.  News  of  higher  wages 
and  better  conditions  a  hundred  miles  away  will  immediately 
influence  them.  I  met  one  Martini  in  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  who 
had  traveled  extensively  both  in  Canada  and  the  United  States. 
He  began  his  life  in  America,  in  Bridgeport,  then  he  went  to 
Meriden,  from  there  to  Boston,  then  to  Canada's  leading  cities, 
then  to  the  West  and  then  back  to  Chicago,  then  east  to  Water- 
ford,  and  then  back  to  the  starting  point.  While  he  related 
the  story  of  his  peregrinations,  six  other  foreign-born  men  were 
in  the  room.  I  asked  each  if  he  had  been  to  many  cities  in 
the  Union,  and  five  out  of  the  six  could  match  Martini's  story 
of  wanderings.  One  only  out  of  the  seven  had  worked  con- 
tinuously in  the  town  in  which  he  first  settled.  The  experiences 
of  these  men  were  typical  of  those  of  thousands  of  foreign- 


66 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


born  single  men  in  the  United  States.  They  are  constantly 
migrating.^ 

Inhuman  Treatment.  —  Thousands  of  immigrants  are  sent 
out  annually  to  mine  patches  and  camps,  and  given  a  reception 
that  is  not  human.  The  following  experience  of  a  group  of 
eighteen  men  sent  to  one  of  the  coal  fields  of  Virginia  is  not 
exceptional.  "  Each  of  us  got  a  loaf  of  bread  and  a  pound  of 
sausage  as  we  left  Jersey  City  the  afternoon  of  December  12. 
We  arrived  at  our  destination  about  10  p.m.  the  following  day. 
We  were  given  some  pickles,  cheese,  and  bread  in  the  company 
store.  Then  we  were  told  that  they  did  not  expect  us  so  soon 
and  consequently  had  not  provided  boarding  places,  not  even 
beds,  so  the  eighteen  of  us  were  shown  to  an  empty  house  and 
bidden  good  night.  The  house  was  worse  than  the  stable  my 
father  had  his  horses  in.  One  could  see  through  the  clefts  be- 
tween the  boards,  and  glass  windows  were  a  luxury.  A  darky 
nailed  a  few  planks  across  the  window  openings  and  covered 
them  with  some  stuff.  No  blankets,  no  beds  or  mattresses,  no 
pillows,  no  stove,  although  a  heavy  snowstorm  was  setting  in. 
We  huddled  together  like  sheep  in  a  fold,  clothes  and  boots  on, 
not  washed  since  we  left  New  York,  and  not  an  oimce  of  any- 
thing warm  within  us."  Another  coal  company,  having  im- 
ported a  number  of  foreigners,  made  no  provision  whatsoever 
to  house  the  men,  and  the  poor  fellows  gathered  what  boards 
they  could  find,  put  them  together  in  a  nook  on  the  hillside,  and 
lived  there  until  shacks  were  built  for  them.  Some  operators 
justify  such  treatment  by  saying :  "  They  didn't  have  anything 
better  in  their  old  homes."  The  question  is  not  what  these 
men  were  accustomed  to  in  the  fatherland,  but  rather  what  is 

'  The  Immigration  Commission's  Abstract  of  Report  on  "  Immigrants  in  Cities  " 
says :  "  All  immigrant  races  except  the  Irish  and  the  Magyars  report  more  than  one 
half  of  their  households  as  having  no  residence  outside  of  the  neighborhood  where 
they  now  live."  This  is  true  of  the  family,  but  it  is  just  as  true  that  the  working 
population  of  the  new  immigration  is  shifting  in  America  as  in  no  other  country, 
especially  so  in  mining  and  quarrying.  "This  tendency  is  strongest,  of  course, 
among  the  foot-loose  singlf  men,"  who  form  so  great  a  proportion  of  the  working 
force  of  the  new  immigration.  —  See  "Immigrants  in  Cities,"  p.  lo;  also  "Bulletin 
of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  No.  84,"  p.  360. 


CONDITIONS  OF  WORK 


67 


the  reception  given  them  by  Christian  America?  We  are 
judged  by  the  accommodations  placed  at  the  disposal  of  these 
men  in  camps  ajid  mine  patches,  and  we  have  seen  villages, 
bunk  houses  and  bull  pens,  that  were  a  disgrace  to  civilization. 
If  the  patient  Slovak,  the  meek  Ruthenian,  the  good-natured 
Croat,  the  happy  Italian,  submit  to  these  things  without  a 
murmur,  let  us  not  deceive  ourselves  that  they  are  indifferent  to 
the  inhuman  treatment ;  they  know  the  wrongs  and  impositions, 
and  will  remember  them  as  long  as  they  live. 

Disagreeable  Conditions.  —  Industries,  in  their  very  nature 
unpleasant,  are  manned  by  foreigners.  "  White  people  "  will 
not  perform  certain  kinds  of  work,  and  the  employers  must 
hire  foreigners  to  do  it.  When  once  they  take  up  a  line  of  work 
the  English-speaking  forsake  it,  for  they  think  it  below  their 
dignity  to  work  alongside  of  recent  immigrants.'  In  a  large 
room  in  a  cotton  factory,  where  the  nap  was  made  on  the  cloth, 
fifty  foreigners  were  employed.  The  air  in  that  room  was  laden 
with  floating  particles  of  cotton,  and  appeared  like  the  atmos- 
phere on  a  winter  day  laden  with  fine  snow.  The  men  with 
every  breath  of  air  breathed  some  of  the  lint,  and  breathing 
some  10,000  times  in  ten  hours  I  wondered  how  much  of  that 
lint  they  would  carry  away  in  their  lungs  in  a  year.  I  told  the 
foreman :  "  This  is  bad  breathing."  "  Yes,"  was  his  reply,  "  but 
the  men  don't  seem  to  mind  it."  In  a  hat  factory  the  guide 
took  me  down  to  the  cellar  where  the  felt  was  soaked  and  passed 
through  certain  processes.  The  place  was  wet,  the  atmosphere 
laden  with  steam,  and  the  stench  of  glue  was  decidedly  disagree- 
able. All  the  employees,  both  male  and  female,  were  foreign- 
born.  The  women  tied  some  linen  over  their  hair  to  protect 
it  from  the  moisture  —  all  were  more  or  less  wet,  they  could 
not  avoid  it.  In  talking  about  these  conditions  to  the  foreman, 
his  comment  was :  "  They  don't  mind  it  —  they  are  tough." 
Foreigners  operate  in  furniture  plants,  where  the  fine  particles 
of  wood  floating  in  the  air  light  on  both  man  and  machine, 
covering  them  with  a  coating  of  sawdust,  so  that  it  is  necessary, 

•  See  Immigration  Commission's  Abstract  of  Report  on  "Immigrants  in  Manu- 
facturing and  Mining,"  p.  225. 


68 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


every  once  in  a  while,  to  clean  up  that  the  work  may  be  con- 
tinued. In  a  large  furniture  factory,  down  in  the  room  where 
the  veneer  was  fastened  to  certain  parts  of  wood,  a  row  of  men 
stood,  each  performing  his  part  as  the  articles  on  which  they 
worked  passed  along.  It  was  a  dirty  place.  Varnish,  glue, 
paints  —  all  forming  a  sticky,  slimy  combination  which  clung 
to  bench,  block,  wood,  and  sides,  giving  the  place  a  filthy  ap- 
pearance that  was  disgusting.    The  men  worked  under  pressure 

—  each  had  to  keep  up  the  pace  to  save  congestion  at  his  bench 

—  and  the  varnish,  glue,  and  paints  were  spattered  over  apron 
and  garments,  hands  and  arms,  and  the  face  was  not  exempt ; 
they  could  not  save  themselves,  speeding  work  as  they  did. 
It  was  disagreeable  work,  and  "white  men"  had  forsaken  it. 
There  are  certain  operations  which  necessarily  involve  dirt  and 
disagreeable  odors;  they  cannot  be  avoided  if  the  work  is  to 
be  done. 

Injurious  to  Health.  —  In  lead  and  chemical  plants,  many 
foreigners  make  good  wages,  —  from  S5  to  $6  a  day,  —  but  they 
continue  at  work  only  from  five  to  six  months,  and  then  —  a 
funeral  or  incapacity  for  life.  Superintendents  and  foremen 
sympathize  with  the  men,  but  the  ease  with  which  they  can 
replace  the  incapacitated  relieves  them  of  the  necessity  either 
to  eUminate  this  cause  of  human  waste  or  find  substitutes  for 
a  commodity  produced  at  so  great  a  cost.  Of  course  there 
are  unavoidable  evils  incident  to  some  processes  in  manufac- 
turing. You  cannot  get  rid  of  the  dust  in  coal  mining,  of  heat 
in  iron  making,  of  acid  odors  in  pickling  tin  or  in  galvanizing 
iron ;  but  every  work  injurious  to  health  conditions  may  be 
improved  by  forethought,  intelligent  cooperation,  and  the  ex- 
penditure of  money.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  improvements, 
suggested  by  science  or  sympathy,  are  not  made,  for  the  reason 
that  "  hands  "  from  foreign  lands  are  so  easUy  obtained.  High 
wages  will  induce  men  to  risk  life  and  limb.  This  is  especially 
true  of  the  illiterate  and  untrained  immigrant  who  cannot 
imderstand  how  breathing  particles  of  dust  or  eating  with  un- 
washed hands  will  in j  ure  his  body.  The  operator,  however,  knows 
the  danger  and  has  seen  its  effect,  and  the  ease  with  which  men 


CONDITIONS  OF  WORK 


69 


can  be  replaced  in  work  injurious  to  health  should  not  act  as  a 
deterrent  to  improvements  to  conserve  human  life  and  energy. 

Wages  are  Low.  —  The  wages  paid  foreigners  vary  greatly, 
but  in  every  industry  they  get  the  lowest  wage.  The  poorest 
paid  immigrants  are  the  Greeks  and  the  Macedonians.  The 
impression  is  common  that  $1.50  a  day,  of  10  hours'  work,  is 
the  standard  in  the  United  States  for  unskilled  labor.  There 
are  thousands  of  foreign-born  men  working  for  less.  Foremen 
generally  say  that  they  pay  unskilled  labor  $1.50;  but  we  have 
found  men  in  the  plants  having  this  standard  getting  only 
$1.30,  which  the  boss  explained  by  saying :  "  Yes,  he  is  a  green 
hand  and  cannot  do  the  work  yet.  As  soon  as  he  can,  he'll 
get  $1.50."  Foremen,  who  want  labor  cheap,  as  good  Americans, 
don't  like  to  confess  that  men  work  for  less  than  $1.50.  Un- 
skilled labor  on  the  Barge  Canal,  in  New  York  State,  is  paid 
at  the  rate  of  1 5  cents  an  hour,  but  the  men  only  work  8  hours, 
which  makes  the  daily  wage  $1.20;  but  there  are  plants  pay- 
ing foreigners  that  wage  for  10  hours'  work,  and  running  a  com- 
pany store  besides.  In  one  of  the  quarries  on  the  Hudson, 
common  labor  is  paid  $1.35  for  10  hours'  work.  An  Italian 
carpenter,  in  a  construction  camp,  working  side  by  side  with 
a  native-born,  doing  exactly  the  same  work,  received  5  cents 
less  per  hour  than  the  American.  The  foreigner  was  a  skilled 
workman,  had  received  better  wages  elsewhere,  and  there  was 
no  apparent  justification  for  this  discrimination. 

Wages  vary  Greatly.  —  Wages  vary  greatly  in  the  same 
industry.  I  have  known  foreigners  to  work  for  less  than  a 
dollar  a  day  in  coal  mining  and  lumbering,  while  men  of  the 
same  race  in  the  same  industry  got  $1.80  a  day.  The  wages 
earned  by  foreigners  do  not  depend  so  much  upon  their  effi- 
ciency as  upon  the  character  of  the  industry  in  which  they  work. 
Magyars  in  cotton  mills  get  about  $8.92  a  week,  but  in  iron 
and  ore  mining  they  earn  $13.96,  and  in  oil  refining  $14.61. 
The  southern  Italians  earn  in  cotton  mills  only  $7.68,  but 
in  copper  mining  and  smelting  $13. 89.^    The  best  wages  are 

1  See  Immigration  Commission's  Abstract  of  Report  on  "Immigrants  in  Manu- 
facturing and  Mining,"  pp.  loS  f. 


70 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


paid  in  mines,  glass  works,  oil  refining,  cigar  and  tobacco 
manufacturing,  slaughtering  and  meat  packing  houses  and 
on  ore  docks ;  the  lowest  wages  are  paid  in  cotton  and 
woolen  mills,  in  leather  plants,  fumitiire  factories,  in  most 
construction  camps,  and  in  railroad  work,  repair  shops,  and  in 
iron  and  steel  industries.  Seventeen  and  a  half  cents  an  hour 
would  be  a  fair  average  wage  for  men  working  in  mines  and  on 
docks,  but  they  have  to  contend  with  intermittent  labor.  The 
thousands  working  on  the  ore  docks  on  the  lakes  are  lucky  if 
they  get  seven  months'  work  in  the  year ;  in  dull  seasons  it  falls 
to  four  and  five.  The  packing  houses  have  placed  most  of 
their  employees  on  the  hour  basis;  and,  during  dull  seasons, 
the  men  are  fortunate  if  they  get  half  time.  In  quarries,  in 
brickyards,  in  sewer  pipe  works,  in  coal  mining,  in  construction 
camps,  and  in  maintenance  of  roadway  on  railroads,  the  men 
are  laid  off  for  from  two  to  four  months  in  the  year.  This  cuts 
into  the  wage,  for  the  man  and  his  family  must  live  the  year 
round.  In  discussing  the  annual  wage  of  immigrants,  the 
Immigration  Commission  says:  "It  is  a  striking  fact  that  of 
the  total  number  of  foreign-bom  wage  earners,  77.9  per  cent 
received  under  $600  per  year,  and  43.5  per  cent  under  S400." 
But  these  figures  do  not  bring  out  the  more  striking  fact  that 
27  per  cent  of  the  men  of  the  newer  immigration  receive  less 
than  S200  per  year,  and  70.1  per  cent  receive  less  than  $400, 
and  92.5  per  cent  less  than  $600,  while  none  of  them  reached 
the  Siooo  mark.^ 

Labor  Troubles.  —  A  prolific  source  of  trouble  in  our  indus- 
tries is  the  foreigner's  ignorance  of  the  Enghsh  language.  In 
a  shoe  factory  in  New  England  the  firm  introduced  an  innova- 
tion under  the  suggestion  of  "  scientific  management."  The 
labor  force  was  largely  Greek,  and  immediately  the  men  went 
on  strike.  Passions  were  aroused  and  riots  threatened,  so  that 
a  guard  was  necessary  to  protect  the  superintendent  on  his  way 
to  and  from  the  factory,  and  a  watch  set  at  his  house.  The 
trouble  was  not  concerning  wages,  and  native-born  men  in  the 

1  See  Table  IX  in  addenda.  Also  Immigration  Commission's  Abstxact  of  Re- 
port on  "Immigrants  in  Mantifactuiing  and  Mining,"  pp.  131  £. 


CONDITIONS  OF  WORK 


71 


city  had  no  idea  what  the  difficulty  was ;  but  for  two  weeks  a 
reign  of  terror  prevailed  in  a  section  of  their  town.  The  Greek 
consul  of  a  distant  city  was  summoned,  and  the  situation  ex- 
plained to  him.  He  called  his  countrymen  together,  had  a  talk 
with  them,  explained  the  attitude  of  the  'company,  and  the 
following  morning  they  were  back  at  work.  The  chief  source 
of  trouble  was  suspicion  of  the  company's  motives,  a  distrust  of 
a  new  adjustment  of  forces,  and  a  general  misunderstanding 
because  the  superintendent  could  not  fully  explain  the  change 
to  the  men.  The  foreigners  are  often  like  children,  and  must 
be  so  handled.  A  group  of  Slavs,  working  in  a  factory,  were 
suppUed  each  morning  with  a  quantity  of  iron  for  the  day's 
work.  The  management,  one  morning,  did  not  serve  the  men 
in  their  turn,  and  gave  the  men  they  called  up  first  more  iron 
than  the  rest  received.  The  foreigners  immediately  thought 
that  they  were  discriminated  against,  and  struck.  The  employer 
called  them  together,  and,  having  secured  a  reUable  interpreter, 
explained  the  reason  why  this  was  done.  The  men  understood 
the  situation,  and  the  trouble  was  adjusted.  That  operator 
did  in  his  plant  what  he  was  in  the  habit  of  doing  in  his  home 
when  the  children  disagreed. 

Operators  are  Prejudiced.  —  Many  operators  are  preju- 
diced against  the  foreigners,  and  would  not  employ  this  class 
of  labor  if  they  could  otherwise  get  along.  Prejudice  on  the 
part  of  the  employers  is  like  the  wind  —  none  can  tell  where  it 
falls.  In  St.  Louis  a  manager  told  me,  "  Give  us  the  Greeks 
every  time;"  but  in  Moline  another  said:  "No  Greek  can  get 
work  in  this  plant."  There  are  two  plants  in  a  city  in  Ohio, 
the  one  making  rubber  goods,  and  the  other,  cloth ;  in  the  former, 
Italians  largely  make  up  the  labor  force ;  in  the  latter,  not  an 
Italian  is  found.  The  manager  of  the  rubber  works  said: 
"  The  Italians  are  good  workers,"  the  one  in  the  cloth  works 
said  :  "  No  Italians  for  me  —  I  can't  trust  them  and  won't  have 
'em."  A  silk  plant  in  one  of  the  cities  of  New  York,  employing 
some  three  hundred  Italians,  paid  the  men  in  the  dyeing  depart- 
ment $8.20  a  week  —  the  men  struck  for  $9.  Terror  seized  the 
community,  a  citizens'  league  was  formed,  fifty  special  deputies 


72 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


were  sworn  in,  and  every  family  in  town  was  in  fear  lest,  per- 
chance, the  foreigners  would  break  loose.  The  fear  was  ground- 
less, no  act  of  violence  was  committed  and  when  the  head  of 
the  concern  called  a  meeting,  the  men  came  together,  calmly 
discussed  the  question  of  wages,  accepted  a  compromise,  —  S8.70 
a  week,  —  and  the  mill  was  started  the  following  morning.  After 
the  martyrdom  of  President  McKinley,  an  employer  in  New 
England  called  his  general  manager  and  said :  "I  want  you  to 
dismiss  all  Poles  in  this  plant."  The  manager  asked,  "  Why?  " 
The  operator  said :  "  I'm  afraid,  and  won't  have  them  around." 
The  subordinate  left,  looked  up  the  number  of  Poles  in  the  plant, 
and  the  following  morning  told  the  operator :  "  If  I  dismiss 
the  Poles,  it  will  mean  a  loss  of  $75  a  day."  That  settled  it  — 
the  Poles  stayed,  and  the  order  was  toned  down  to  "  let  no  one 
of  them  carry  a  knife." 

Workers  are  Prejudiced.  —  Many  English-speaking  workers 
are  prejudiced  against  the  foreigners.  This  has  a  greater  justi- 
fication than  that  of  the  operator,  for  the  immigrant  has  affected 
wages  and  conditions  of  labor.  In  the  mining  industry  the 
foreigners  have  taken  work  which  the  English-speaking  quit 
because  they  could  not  make  a  living  wage.  The  immigrants 
entering  the  iron  and  ore  industries  have  checked  the  demand 
for  better  conditions  made  by  the  men  of  the  old  immigration. 
Workmen,  sometimes,  injure  their  cause  by  Ul-advised  legisla- 
tion, which  works  in  favor  of  the  immigrant  from  southeastern 
Europe.  The  miners  of  Pennsylvania  thought  they  safe- 
guarded their  interests  when  they  secured  the  enactment  of  a 
law  making  two  years'  apprenticeship  necessary  before  a  man, 
no  matter  what  his  previous  experience  in  mining  was,  could 
get  a  chamber.  They  effectually  barred  out  English,  Welsh, 
Scotch,  and  German  miners,  trained  in  the  old  world,  and 
opened  the  door  for  the  Slavs,  Lithuanians,  and  ItaUans.  A 
practical  miner  from  England  or  Wales  would  not  work  as  a 
laborer  for  two  years  before  he  got  a  chamber  of  his  own,  but 
the  southeastern  European  would.  The  foreigners  entered, 
and  the  day  came  when  the  control  of  the  industry  passed  out 
of  the  hands  of  English-speaking  men.   The  trades  xmions, 


CONDITIONS  OF  WORK 


73 


in  many  of  our  cities,  have  followed  an  equally  fatuitous  policy. 
Foreign-born  craftsmen  have  been  driven  to  unskilled  labor, 
for  the  conditions  imposed  upon  them  by  wage  earners  were 
utterly  beyond  their  reach.  Artificial  walls  of  this  character, 
put  up  by  English-speaking  men,  will  give  temporary  relief; 
but  the  foreign  mason,  painter,  plasterer,  etc.,  in  time,  come  to 
their  own.  A  colony  of  Japanese  is  found  in  South  Omaha, 
every  member  of  which  is  employed  in  one  of  the  packing  houses. 
These  men  were  brought  there  during  the  throes  of  a  strike, 
and  for  months  after  the  labor  trouble  was  over,  no  Japanese 
dared  to  appear  in  town  after  dark.  To  this  day  many  workmen 
curse  the  colony.  Thousands  of  English-speaking  workers  in 
the  iron  and  steel  industries,  in  the  textiles,  in  the  shoe  and  rub- 
ber plants,  curse  the  foreigners,  for  they  say :  "  They  take  the 
bread  out  of  our  mouths,  they  take  our  jobs,  they  cut  our  wages, 
and  they  have  no  standards  to  go  by,"  and  impartial  men  who 
have  studied  the  cause  of  the  English-speaking  know  that  there 
is  much  truth  in  the  indictment.  The  old  immigrants  are  learn- 
ing a  lesson,  however,  and  are  making  friends  of  the  new. 
Under  economic  pressure  the  links  of  the  fraternal  union  of  all 
nations  are  forged. 

Industrial  Rearrangement.  —  The  coming  of  this  new  im- 
migration, untrained,  unskilled,  stolid,  but  docile,  has  effected 
many  changes  in  industrial  life.  One  of  these  is  the  elimination 
of  mechanical  skill  and  experience,  formerly  required  in  a  large 
number  of  industries  by  the  invention  of  mechanical  devices 
and  processes  ^  which  enable  employers  to  set  the  foreigner  to 
work.  But  a  greater  change  is  the  placing  at  the  head  of  a  group 
of  unskilled  foreigners  a  skilled  workman  under  whose  direction 
they  perform  work  formerly  done  by  skilled  workmen.  Mr. 
F.  W.  Taylor,  author  of  "  Principles  of  Scientific  Management," 
says  that  the  best  kind  of  a  man  to  do  certain  types  of  work 
should  "  be  so  stupid  and  so  phlegmatic  that  he  more  nearly 
resembles  in  his  make-up  the  ox  than  any  other  type."  A  type 
to  whom  you  can  talk  as  you  would  not  dare  talk  to  "  white 

'  See  Immigration  Commission's  Abstract  of  Report  on  "Immigrants  in  Manu- 
facturing and  Mining,"  p.  221. 


74 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


men."  That  has  been  the  character  of  many  men  of  the  new 
immigration,  and  the  genius  for  organization  in  American 
entrepreneurs  has  made  good  use  of  the  type.  In  one  of  the 
New  England  towns,  an  ex-clergyman  was  manager  of  a  shop, 
making  carpenter's  supplies.  In  one  room  there  were  many 
ingenious  machines,  set  in  a  row,  all  operated  by  foreigners. 
I  asked  him :  "  Do  these  men  know  anything  of  the  machines 
they  operate?  "  "  No,"  was  his  answer.  "  Well,  suppose  one 
of  them  gets  out  of  order,  what  do  you  do?  "  He  explained: 
"We  put  one  skilled  workman  in  charge  of  from  nine  to  twelve 
machines.  It  is  his  business  to  set  the  machine  in  order,  so 
that  the  foreigner  may  keep  on  doing  that  one  thing.  We  pay 
the  mechanic  the  standard  wage,  but  low  wages  to  the  foreigners." 
The  old  way  was  to  put  a  skilled  worker  in  charge  of  each  machine 
and  pay  him  the  standard  wage,  but  with  the  incoming  of  immi- 
grants the  present  method  was  introduced  and  the  labor  cost 
reduced.  In  the  tube  works,  under  old-time  regulations,  the 
order  was  a  man  for  every  furnace ;  now  it  is  a  man  for  ten  or 
more  furnaces  —  the  skilled  heater  gets  S7  a  day,  and  his  helpers 
(foreigners)  from  $2  to  $3.  This  practice  to  cut  down  the  cost 
of  production  is  introduced  in  many  industries.  The  skilled 
workers  in  steel  mills  are  now  heads  of  gangs  and  not  individual 
workers;  the  same  is  true  of  skilled  men  in  tin  plate  miUs,  in 
the  textile  industries ;  the  same  arrangement  is  found  in  rubber 
plants,  in  supply  plants,  in  aluminium  works,  in  quarrying,  etc. 
The  high-priced  man,  highly  trained  and  capable,  becomes  the 
director  of  low-priced  men,  and  the  more  implicitly  they  obey 
his  instruction,  the  better  for  the  concern.  It  is  a  system  that 
multiplies  the  skill  of  the  trained  man  tenfold  and  saves  50  per 
cent  on  the  labor  cost.  If  American  employers  were  compelled 
to  draw  their  labor  supply  from  native-born  whites  of  native 
parentage,  it  is  very  questionable  whether  or  not  they  would 
have  been  able  to  perfect  this  arrangement ;  the  new  immi- 
gration placed  at  their  command  an  abundant  labor  supply 
that  resembled  in  its  "  mental  make-up  the  ox,"  and  their 
scheme  was  perfected  without  any  of  the  upheavals  which  dis- 
organize and  demoralize  industries. 


CONDITIONS  OF  WORK 


75 


Mixing  the  Nationalities.  —  The  operators  also  have  learned 
how  to  mix  the  various  ^nationalities  so  as  to  prevent  cliques 
and  conclaves  that  may  disturb  the  operation  of  the  plant. 
While  talking  to  the  superintendent  of  a  large  ore  dock  on  Lake 
Erie,  I  asked  him :  "  How  do  you  get  along  with  the  half  dozen 
peoples  of  different  tongues;  do  you  keep  them  separate?  " 
"  No,  sir,"  was  his  reply ;  "  I  mix  them  up.  I  get  better  results. 
Put  six  of  the  same  people  together,  and  you  won't  get  the 
work  out  of  them."  The  superintendent  of  a  rubber  plant  in 
Connecticut  found  that  one  of  the  departments  of  the  mill 
had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  Italians ;  men  of  other  nationalities 
were  in  the  plant,  but  not  one  of  them  could  enter  that  depart- 
ment. Trouble  came  which  threatened  to  demoralize  the  whole 
plant,  and  before  the  management  could  break  up  the  combi- 
nation that  caused  the  mischief,  it  was  necessary  to  double  the 
number  of  hands  in  the  affected  department  and  drive  out  the 
coterie.  The  same  experience  has  come  to  managers  of  con- 
struction gangs  on  railroads,  so  that  it  is  now  generally  under- 
stood that  a  mixed  group  is  better  than  a  homogeneous  one. 
Of  course  some  nationalities  will  not  mix.  The  Pole  and  the 
Lithuanian,  the  Slovak  and  the  Magyar,  the  Italian  and  the 
Austrian,  the  Turk  and  the  Armenian,  the  Hebrew  and  the  Pole, 
will  not,  if  they  can  help  it,  work  together.  Two  Jews  were 
set  to  work  in  a  car  shop  among  scores  of  Slavs,  but  these  so 
tormented  the  Hebrews  that  within  two  days  they  quit  work. 
Sometimes  people  of  the  same  nationality  will  not  work  amica- 
bly together.  A  southern  Italian  found  employment  in  a  web 
factory  near  New  Haven  where  many  northern  Italians  were 
employed,  but  these  made  the  life  of  the  "  new  hand "  so 
wretched  the  first  day  that  he  did  not  come  the  second.  The 
foreman  asked  the  northern  Italians  why  they  objected  to  the 
man;  their  answer  was:  "  We  don't  want  no  Dago  here."  A 
foreman  on  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  pitted  a  gang  of  Italians 
against  an  equal  number  of  Austrians,  then  played  upon  their 
racial  prejudice  and  hatred,  and  got  more  work  from  each. 

Foreigners  Satisfied.  —  Southeastern  Europeans  have  one 
quality  in  particular  which  commends  itself  to  operators.  When 


76 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


one  of  them  advances  to  the  dignity  of  a  machine  operator,  he 
seems  to  have  reached  the  acme  of  his  ambition,  and  is  content. 
They  are  also  far  more  easily  satisfied  than  the  native-born. 
An  intelligent  operator,  comparing  the  foreigner  with  the  native- 
born  workman,  said :  "  A  slow  horse  that's  safe  is  better  than  a 
fast  one  that's  frisky."  The  new  immigrant  will  not  compare 
for  a  moment  in  industrial  efficiency  and  adaptability  with  the 
native-born ;  but  thousands  of  operators  prefer  to  put  up  with 
the  slow  Slav  or  the  sluggish  Finn,  rather  than  endure  the  vex- 
ation incident  to  the  restlessness  and  self-assertion  of  native- 
born  workmen. 

Some  Disagreeable  Habits.  —  Foreigners  have  disagreeable 
habits.  One  of  them,  in  charge  of  a  room  where  young  girls 
operated  machines,  smelt  so  bad  that  they  carried  the  com- 
plaint to  the  superintendent.  The  man  was  summoned  to  the 
office  and  asked :  "  John,  how  often  do  you  wash  —  once  a 
month?"  "Sometimes,"  was  his  reply.  "  WeU,"  said  the 
manager,  "  you  must  wash  at  least  once  a  week  or  look  for 
another  job."  The  man  quit.  In  one  of  the  factories  of  New 
England  where  a  large  number  of  foreigners  worked,  the  fol- 
lowing notice  was  put  up :  "  For  smell  of  garlic  —  5  cents'  fine ; 
for  smell  of  beer  —  5  cents'  fine ;  for  combination  of  garlic  and 
beer  —  10  cents."  In  a  foundry  in  Baltimore,  the  superin- 
tendent put  up  a  notice,  prohibiting  smoking.  One  fellow  per- 
sistently disregarded  the  notice,  and  Mr.  Weber,  the  manager, 
resolved  to  catch  him  in  the  act  and  make  an  example  of  him. 
The  opportune  occasion  came ;  he  saw  a  cigarette  in  his  mouth, 
and  hurrying  across  the  shop  he  stood  in  front  of  the  man,  but 
could  not  locate  that  cigarette  —  the  fellow  had  swallowed  it, 
light  and  all.  Foreigners  will  bribe  foremen,  and  the  boss  who 
has  no  moral  stamina,  is  seriously  tempted.  Some  foremen  find 
money  in  their  pockets ;  a  venal  boss  forms  a  pact  with  a  saloon- 
keeper to  collect  bribe  money.  Some  foremen,  given  to  drink 
and  lust,  find  men  who  pander  to  their  weakness.  Most  immi- 
grants will  drink.  When  Mr.  Houston,  of  Coatesville,  tried  to 
get  the  men  employed  in  the  steel  plant  to  give  up  drink,  a  Slav 
told  him :  "  No  beer,  no  whisky,  me  no  work."    Most  of  the 


CONDITIONS  OF  WORK 


77 


new  immigrants  believe  that  alcohol  strengthens  them  and  makes 
them  more  efficient.  The  Slav  is  especially  fond  of  strong 
drink.  Some  foreigners  are  also  passionate  and  resent  the 
horse  play  of  their  fellow  workers.  One  of  the  saddest  tragedies 
ever  known  occurred  in  a  mining  town  in  Pennsylvania,  be- 
cause of  horse  play.  An  Italian  boy  worked  in  the  breaker, 
and,  one  afternoon  as  he  was  leaving  for  home,  some  one  threw 
a  shovelful  of  fine  coal  dust  on  his  head.  The  victim  of  the 
joke  looked  up  and  saw  a  face  laughing  at  him  from  above. 
He  did  not  go  home,  but  hid  among  the  cars  waiting  for  the  boy 
with  the  smiling  face  to  come  down.  As  soon  as  he  came  the 
Italian  lad  stabbed  him  to  the  heart.  The  criminal,  cast  into 
prison,  was  beside  himself  with  grief  when  he  heard  of  the  fatal 
result  of  his  attack,  and  during  his  trial  his  agony  was  pitiful. 
He  was  convicted  of  manslaughter,  and  is  now  serving  his  sen- 
tence in  the  penitentiary. 

Wants  a  Fair  Chance.  —  The  foreigner  is  with  us  and  is  an 
important  factor  in  our  industries.  He  is  made  up  of  good  and 
evil,  the  same  as  the  rest  of  us,  and  these  qualities  manifest 
themselves  in  shop  and  mine.  What  he  asks  of  America  is  a 
square  deal.  He  is  patient  and  long-suffering,  and  endures 
stoically  hardships  and  inconveniences  in  making  a  living,  but 
his  meekness  and  silence  should  not  justify  barbaric  treatment. 
He  does  not  ask  charity  of  Christian  America,  he  wants  justice ; 
he  wants  to  be  dealt  with  as  "  white  men  "  are  dealt  with,  and 
not  as  a  beast  of  burden.  He  takes  the  lowest  wage  uncom- 
plainingly, but  when  intermittent  labor  cuts  into  his  living,  he 
suffers  the  same  as  the  rest  of  us.  Give  the  foreigner  a  fair 
chance  as  far  as  conditions  of  employment,  a  living  wage,  and 
just  treatment  are  concerned,  and  he  will  ask  no  more ;  with  these 
he  is  well  able  to  take  care  of  himself  and  make  good  in  America. 


CHAPTER  VI 


ACCIDENTS 

No  reliable  statistics  of  accidents  in  the  industries  of  the 
United  States  are  available.  Special  studies  of  particular 
callings  have  been  conducted  here  and  there,  and  the  gruesome 
tale  has  made  us  shudder.  Statisticians  have  refrained  from 
generalizations,  for  the  figures  were  too  appalling.  When  re- 
liable information  has  been  collected  and  the  figures  are  com- 
pared with  those  gathered  in  a  like  industry  in  Europe,  men 
are  made  still  more  conscious  of  the  enormous  waste  of  lives 
in  the  industries  of  the  United  States.  A  prime  cause  of  this 
mournful  record  is  the  heterogeneous  character  of  America's 
labor  force.  It  is  nothing  unusual  to  find  a  mine,  a  mill,  or  a 
factory  in  which  representatives  of  twenty  different  nationali- 
ties work. 

European  Workers  Homogeneous.  —  On  the  continent  of 
Europe  or  in  Great  Britain,  the  employees  differ  greatly  from 
those  found  in  the  United  States.  In  the  old  world,  in  mine 
and  mill,  a  homogeneous  working  force  is  the  rule ;  the  foreman 
knows  his  men  and  can  talk  to  them  without  an  interpreter; 
the  men  know  each  other  from  boyhood ;  they  were  raised  in 
the  same  schools ;  lived  in  the  same  town  and  have  for  years 
worked  side  by  side ;  they  understand  each  other  and  have  ties 
—  legal,  social,  religious,  etc.  —  which  bind  them  and  make 
life  joyous.  In  a  coal  pit  in  England,  where  I  once  worked, 
all  the  employees  were  pretty  much  like  one  family.  We  knew 
each  other  and  had  common  interests.  Many  men  and  boys 
were  related  by  marriage ;  a  still  larger  group  were  worshipers 
in  the  same  church,  all  read  the  paper  which  discussed  matters 
pertaining  to  the  industry,  such  as  wages  and  conditions  of 
employment.  When  calamity  overtook  a  family,  we  all  knew 
it,  and  aid  was  promptly  furnished.    In  one  of  the  drifts,  when 

78 


ACCIDENTS 


79 


a  young  boy  of  sixteen  years  was  killed,  work  was  immediately 
suspended,  and  all  employees  followed  that  young  corpse  from 
the  mines. 

American  Workers  Heterogeneous.  —  Conditions  are  very 
different  in  a  plant  where  a  heterogeneous  labor  force  is  found. 
The  workers  are  not  only  divided  by  language,  but  by  previous 
culture  and  often  by  racial  antipathy.  In  the  coal  mining 
industry  men  of  thirty-three  different  tongues  work ;  thirty 
different  races  are  represented  in  the  cotton  mills  of  New 
England ;  eighteen  different  peoples  work  in  factories  for  tanning 
and  currying  leather ;  and  in  the  iron  and  steel  industry,  the 
complexity  of  tongues  is  as  great  as  in  mining.  Each  race  lives 
its  own  life  and  follows  its  own  habits  and  customs.  The  men 
seldom  meet  in  social  gatherings,  races  do  not  intermarry,  they 
worship  at  different  altars,  and  the  sorrows  and  trials  of  the 
homes  are  seldom  known  beyond  the  small  circle  of  the  racial 
group.  The  result  is  the  loss  of  industrial  group  consciousness, 
of  sympathetic  touch,  of  fraternal  feeling,  and  of  common 
interest  in  things  which  concern  all  the  workers  in  the  same 
plant.  If  one  is  killed,  the  calamity  appalls  not  —  no  one  thinks 
of  suspending  work.  When  men  change  in  a  mine  or  mill,  no 
one  cares,  for  they  are  for  the  most  part  strangers  to  one  another. 
A  gross  wrong  done  a  foreigner  passes  unnoticed,  for  who  can 
understand  his  jargon  should  he  try  to  explain?  Under  these 
conditions  a  foreman  who  is  inclined  to  drive  and  abuse  has  a 
free  hand,  while  the  matter  of  a  roster  of  the  maimed  and  killed 
is  no  one's  business,  for  the  mourners  of  foreign-bom  victims 
live  three  thousand  miles  away. 

Prime  Cause  of  Accidents.  —  One  of  the  prime  causes  of 
accidents  to  foreigners,  as  before  stated,  is  their  ignorance  of 
the  English  language.  Foremen  try  to  explain,  and  the  foreigner, 
anxious  to  please,  says,  "  yes,  yes,"  and  at  the  same  time  he  does 
not  understand  what  the  boss  is  talking  about.  A  Greek,  in 
Norwich,  Conn.,  was  put  in  charge  of  a  machine  in  a  cotton 
mill,  at  the  extreme  left  end  of  which  was  a  box,  covering  the 
gear.  The  boss  told  the  Greek,  "  Don't  touch  this,"  laying  his 
hand  on  the  box.    No  sooner  was  he  out  of  sight  than  the  man 


8o 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


went  to  the  box,  lifted  the  hd  and  looked  in.  He  saw  some  lint 
on  the  machinery  and  put  his  hand  in  to  remove  it  —  the  hand 
came  out  a  shapeless  mass  of  mangled  flesh.  In  the  investi- 
gation it  was  discovered  that  the  Greek  did  not  understand  a 
word  of  the  warning.  In  one  of  the  Cleveland-Cliffs  Iron  Com- 
pany's ore  pits,  in  Ishpeming,  five  foreigners  and  an  EngUsh- 
speaking  leader  were  sinking  a  shaft  from  one  level  to  another. 
They  had  bored  five  holes,  put  in  the  cartridges  and  fired  them. 
Two  of  the  holes  missed  fire,  and  the  boss  swabbed  one  out  with 
a  stick.  He  was  called  to  another  part  of  the  mine,  and  leaving 
two  men  to  swab  out  the  remaining  hole,  he  turned  to  the  more 
intelligent,  put  the  stick  in  his  hand,  and  told  him  what  to  do. 
No  sooner  was  the  boss  gone  than  the  foreigner  deUberately 
laid  the  stick  one  side,  took  a  drill,  put  it  in  the  hole,  and  told 
his  friend  to  strike.  The  hole  went  off  instantly,  and  both  men 
were  maimed  for  Ufe.  Here  again  the  investigation  showed 
that  the  men  had  not  understood  the  captain,  and,  anxious  to 
expedite  work,  they  thought  they  would  clean  out  the  hole 
quicker  than  the  boss  did  —  and  they  succeeded.  A  Hungarian 
in  the  Richard's  Mines  in  New  Jersey  sat  upright  on  the  car 
about  to  be  hoisted  up  the  slope.  The  footman  shouted  to 
him  to  lean  forward  with  the  incline  of  the  slope;  he  simply 
shrugged  his  shoulders  and  laughed  The  car  went  its  way, 
and  a  beam  struck  the  young  man  on  the  head,  killing  him 
instantly.  Did  he  understand?  Did  he  willfully  make  that 
his  last  ride?  Six  Italians  were  drowned  in  Aspinwall  dam 
near  Pittsburgh,  simply  because  they  did  not  understand  EngUsh. 
The  foreman  in  charge  of  the  crew  saw  their  danger ;  he  called 
to  them  to  follow  him  to  safety ;  they  did  not  understand,  and 
found  a  watery  grave.  A  foreigner  has  asked  us  "  Suppose  the 
English-speaking  workman  saw  the  following  sign,  what  would 
he  make  out  of  it : 

HOFHFEJb 

and  still  there  are  thousands  of  foreigners  in  mills  and  mines 
to  whom  the  word 

DANGER 

means  just  as  much." 


ACCIDENTS 


8i 


One  Language  Needed.  —  The  state  of  Pennsylvania  has 
tried  to  meet  this  difficulty  by  printing  special  editions  of 
the  laws  regulating  the  mining  industry  in  foreign  tongues.  The 
United  States  Steel  Company  has  done  the  same,  issuing  its 
regulations  in  several  tongues  for  the  use  of  its  employees. 
Notices  may  be  seen  in  iron  and  steel  mills  printed  in  five  and 
six  different  languages.  All  this  is  adrnirable,  but  two  facts 
defeat  the  end  in  view.  The  one  is,  the  illiteracy  of  the  for- 
eigners. From  35  to  75  per  cent  of  the  men  from  southeastern 
Europe  are  illiterate,  and  to  them  rules  and  regulations  printed 
in  their  mother  tongues  will  do  no  good.  The  other  is  that  in 
every  industrial  plant  the  safety  of  all  demands  a  common 
medium  of  communication,  so  that  each  may  understand  a 
warning  when  given  or  comprehend  simple  instruction  when 
the  boss  explains.  In  the  East  St.  Louis  aluminium  works,  a 
Pole,  in  charge  of  a  loaded  car  transporting  the  product  from 
one  part  of  the  plant  to  another,  saw  a  fellow  workman  repair- 
ing a  pipe  lined  on  the  wall  close  to  which  the  car  was  to  pass. 
He  shouted  in  Polish,  "  Get  out  of  the  way,"  but  the  other  man, 
being  a  German,  did  not  understand.  The  car  caught  the  poor 
fellow,  and  crushed  him  fearfully  against  the  wall.  A  hundred 
men  in  one  plant  must  cooperate  if  the  work  is  to  go  on  smoothly ; 
but  if  they  speak  ten  different  languages,  how  can  they  cooperate  ? 
Print  the  regulations  in  as  many  tongues  as  there  are  races  em- 
ployed; that  will  not  help  men  who  must  in  the  daily  process 
of  production  communicate  with  one  another.  They  must  have 
a  common  medium  of  communication,  and  the  only  rational 
solution  of  the  difficulty  is  to  teach  all  foreigners  employed 
in  hazardous  industries  enough  English  to  enable  them  to  under- 
stand simple  instruction,  to  read  simple  warnings,  and  to  com- 
municate one  with  another.  This  is  feasible,  and,  if  accomplished, 
would  reduce  the  accidents  in  every  risky  industry  where  for- 
eigners are  employed.  Should  employers  of  immigrants  assist 
in  an  undertaking  of  this  character,  it  would  be  possible,  within 
sLx  months  or  a  year,  to  teach  these  men  enough  English  to  com- 
prehend simple  instruction  given  by  the  boss  and  carry  on 
ordinary  conversation. 


82 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


Foreigners  take  Risks.  —  Increased  linguistic  capacity,  how- 
ever, will  not  eliminate  all  accidents.  Some  industries,  in  their 
very  nature,  involve  risk,  and  some  men,  in  their  make-up,  will 
take  chances.  Capable  English-speaking  miners,  seeing  a  piece 
of  rock  hanging,  will  risk  life  and  limb  rather  than  take  time 
to  do  what  their  judgment  suggests.  Some  foreigners  are  the 
same.  It  is  a  part  of  human  nature  to  take  chances.  Then 
immigrants  are  anxious  to  please,  and  the  "  hurry-up  "  habit 
of  American  foremen  is  responsible  for  many  calamities.  A 
Slav,  employed  in  a  manufacturing  supply  company,  was  told 
to  stop  his  machine  thirty  minutes  before  quitting  time  in  order 
to  clean  up ;  the  man,  anxious  to  please  the  boss  by  running 
his  machine  to  the  limit,  tried  to  clean  up  while  the  machine 
was  in  operation ;  his  hand  was  caught  in  the  cogs  and  was 
torn  fearfully.  A  foreign-born  young  woman  operating  a  ma- 
chine in  one  of  the  factories  of  Passaic,  N.J.,  was  given  a  brush 
with  which  to  clean  the  machine  when  the  engine  shut  down ; 
she,  however,  used  her  arm  instead  of  the  brush,  and  was  caught 
when  the  engine  started  unexpectedly  —  she  is  to-day  armless. 

Industries  Risky.  —  Pennsylvania  mine  inspectors  have  for 
many  years  declared  that  70  per  cent  of  the  mining  accidents 
are  due  to  the  willful  neglect  of  employees.  They  overlook  or 
forget  the  risky  character  of  mining  when  making  that  state- 
ment. We  are  liable  to  err  in  judgment  or  fail  to  see  a  pending 
danger.  I  once  operated  a  steam  pump  hoisting  water  from  a 
shaft  200  feet  deep.  Attached  to  the  rocking  beam  were  large 
rods  which  were  hoisted  and  lowered  with  the  piston ;  attached 
to  these  rods  were  steel  arms  which  opened  and  closed  the  steam 
valves.  I  saw  those  arms  rising  and  falling  a  thousand  times 
a'  day,  but  that  did  not  prevent  me  in  a  thoughtless  moment 
from  bending  directly  under  one  of  them  and  being  laid  pros- 
trate on  the  floor.  Was  it  willful  neglect  ?  I  am  sure  I  did  not 
want  to  be  killed  or  injured.  A  foreigner,  working  in  one  of 
the  steel  plants  of  Pennsylvania,  was  on  the  night  shift.  He 
had  a  few  moments'  rest,  and  so  sat  in  a  wheelbarrow  and  slept. 
The  large  crane,  carrying  its  load  of  steel,  came  that  way,  and 
when  above  that  sleeper,  the  chain  slipped,  and  down  came  the 


ACCIDENTS 


83 


load,  crushing  him  to  death.  Was  that  willful  neglect  on  the 
part  of  the  sleeper?  So  the  company  adjudged,  and  refused 
to  pay  his  widow  and  orphan  children  a  cent  of  compensation. 
A  foreigner,  working  in  a  wire  mill,  pulling  wire  through  the 
machine  to  get  rid  of  the  kinks,  knows  perfectly  well  that  the 
end  of  that  coil  is  liable  to  spring ;  but  in  a  thoughtless  moment, 
when,  perchance,  he  thinks  of  the  girl  he  left  behind  him  thou- 
sands of  miles  away,  the  wire  springs  and  tears  out  his  eye. 
Yes,  he  may  be  guilty  of  contributory  negligence ;  but  are  not 
these  thoughtless  moments  very  human?  In  a  plow  plant, 
in  Rock  Island  City,  one  of  the  machines  was  idle.  I  asked  the 
foreman :  "  What  is  the  matter  with  this  machine?  "  "  A  man 
was  killed  there  two  days  ago,"  was  his  answer.  Other  monsters 
like  it  were  going  full  speed,  and  I  thought,  if  one  of  them  clutched 
me  what  chance  would  I  have  to  live  ?  The  men  in  charge  of 
these  machines  are  told  to  oil  them  from  the  rear ;  the  operator 
of  this  silent  one  tried  to  put  some  oil  on  the  bearings  while 
standing  in  front  of  the  monster;  his  sleeve  was  caught,  he 
was  whirled  around,  and  before  he  knew  what  happened  to  him, 
he  was  no  more.  Of  course,  he  had  no  business  to  stand  in 
front  to  oil  the  machine ;  but  which  of  us  is  always  right  to  the 
handle  in  the  discharge  of  our  duty?  A  miner  bores  a  hole, 
but  before  he  gets  in  the  powder,  some  annoying  sulphur  has 
exuded  on  the  sides  so  that  the  cartridge  will  not  go  in;  it  is 
more  than  half  in,  and  the  man  takes  the  drill  and  gives  it  a  few 
light  blows;  he  strikes  a  little  harder  than  he  thought,  the 
cartridge  explodes,  and  he  is  a  lifeless  mass  under  the  blasted 
coal.  No,  he  should  not  have  touched  the  charge  with  the 
drill  —  he  should  have  spent  an  hour  or  two,  if  need  be,  to  swab 
out  the  hole ;  but  was  not  that  act  of  his  very  human  ? 

The  Hurry-up  Habit.  —  An  Italian  boy,  only  six  months  in 
America,  lying  in  a  hospital,  suffering  from  an  injury  he  had 
received,  had  learned  three  words  in  English :  "  hurry  up  "  and 
"  boots."  Was  he  there  because  of  willful  neglect  or  because 
of  the  hurry-up  habit  in  the  United  States?  Arthur  Shadwell, 
in  "Industrial  Efficiency,"  commends  the  leisurely  way  Ger- 
mans carry  on  their  work.    They  do  not  shout,  or  rush,  or  drive, 


84 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


and  still  they  do  things.  How  different  with  us  !  It  is  "  hurry 
up  "  on  all  sides.  A  foreigner  is  employed  to  manipulate  the 
chain  of  a  crane,  and  before  he  has  taken  his  hand  off  the  hook, 
the  signal  to  hoist  is  given  and  his  fingers  are  caught.  A  foreigner 
is  ordered  down  to  the  pit  of  the  flywheel  to  do  some  cleaning ; 
but  before  he  has  time  to  come  up,  the  signal  to  start  is  given ; 
the  poor  fellow  is  caught  by  the  wheel  and  hurled  to  eternity. 
A  foreign-born  helper  is  told  by  his  chief  to  clean  the  machine ; 
he  goes  to  work  and  is  busy,  when  the  leader,  forgetting  the 
foreigner,  touches  the  lever  and  starts  the  machine  —  he  re- 
members when  a  cry  of  agony  rends  the  air  and  the  poor  man 
has  lost  a  hand.  A  foundry  in  Pennsylvania  has  the  record  of 
"  one  a  day  "  when  in  full  blast,  and  the  record  is  largely  due 
to  the  fact  that  heavy  cranes  let  fall  a  part  of  their  load  on 
foreigners  who  don't  know  enough  to  get  out  of  the  way,  or 
because  the  crane  driver,  in  a  hurry,  forgets  to  ring  the  bell 
to  warn  men  to  get  out  of  the  way.  A  gate  guarding  the  mouth 
of  an  underground  shaft  was  broken,  but  "  Hurr>'-up,"  the  fore- 
man said ;  "  we  must  get  out  the  coal  —  we'll  repair  it  later  "  ; 
but  a  Slav,  working  there  for  the  first  time,  did  not  know  that 
the  gate  was  broken.  He  came,  leaned  against  the  gate,  and 
fell  down  the  shaft.  "  Production,"  "  tonnage,"  that  is  the 
talisman  in  the  life  of  so  many  managers  who  want  to  make  a 
record,  and  they  forget  the  men  who  ought  to  count  for  more 
than  production.  /  In  a  coal  shaft  where  the  labor  force  was  al- 
most wholly  foreign,  the  man  in  charge  wanted  to  make  a  record. 
"  Get  out  the  coal  "  was  the  order,  and  the  wheels  were  running 
at  their  softest.  A  boy  came  and  said,  "  There's  fire  on  level 
three";  and  the  foreman  said,  "It's  a  mistake;  get  out  the 
coal."  An  hour  passed,  and  then  another  warning  came ;  but 
the  word  was  passed,  "  Go  ahead,  we  are  breaking  the  record." 
Another  half  hour  of  rushing  out  the  coal,  and  then  came  the 
cry  of  horror,  "  The  third  level  is  full  of  smoke."  The  wheels 
were  stopped,  but  it  was  too  late ;  no  word  could  be  sent  to  the 
men  in  the  face ;  the  air  current  had  turned,  and  none  of  the 
men  on  that  level  would  escape.  The  manager  made  a  record 
—  a  record  so  gruesome  that  ninety  million  people  felt  the  shock 


ACCIDENTS 


85 


the  following  morning.  Put  man  first  and  tonnage  second,  and 
many  accidents  wUl  be  prevented.  We  have  kept  the  wheels 
of  industry  running,  and  also  the  hearse.  We  have  made 
records,  and  so  has  the  recording  angel. 

Electricity  Risky.  —  The  introduction  of  new  appliances  in 
production  increases  the  number  of  risks  to  men  of  the  new 
immigration.  Electricity  to-day  is  the  favorite  motive  power. 
Its  use  in  mines  has  a  great  many  advantages  over  compressed 
air  or  steam,  but  it  enhances  the  element  of  danger.  The  eleva- 
tion in  most  mines  is  none  too  great,  and  a  live  wire  attached  to 
the  roof  is  a  constant  menace.  When  a  Slav,  raised  on  the 
farm,  sees  a  little  wire  above  him,  he  is  not  likely  to  regard  it 
as  a  thing  fraught  with  danger,  much  less  with  death.  You 
tell  him  about  it,  and  he  cannot  understand.  When  he  enters 
the  mine,  carrying  a  keg  of  powder  on  his  shoulder,  and  thinking 
little  of  that  wire,  something  is  going  to  happen.  Many  warn- 
ings have  been  given  by  mine  inspectors  against  the  use  of  elec- 
tricity in  mines ;  but  it  is  more  and  more  installed,  for  it  is  cheaper 
and  more  convenient  than  other  sources  of  power.  A  plant 
that  had,  for  many  years,  used  compressed  air  for  riveting, 
reaming,  hoisting,  drilling,  hauling,  etc.,  has  recently  installed 
electric  power,  for  its  chief  engineer  computed  that  it  would  be 
50  per  cent  cheaper  than  compressed  air.  Seventy-five  per 
cent  of  the  employees  of  that  plant  are  foreign-speaking,  and 
when  I  asked,  "  Will  it  not  increase  the  risk  to  these  men  in 
your  plant  ?  "  "  Yes,"  was  the  reply ;  "  but  they'll  soon  get  used 
to  it."  Sixty-five  per  cent  of  these  men  in  the  fatherland  were 
farmers,  or  farm  laborers  ;  they  are  awkward  in  their  movements, 
they  are  not  quick,  they  respond  slowly,  and  when  working 
alongside  of  the  fluid  that  partakes  of  the  nature  of  the  light- 
ning flash,  some  of  them  will  pay  a  great  price  before  they  get 
used  to  it.  In  a  steel  plant  a  live  wire  broke,  and,  falling  upon 
another  of  the  same  character,  formed  a  short  circuit  of  great 
power.  A  foreigner  saw  the  wire  falling,  and  went  to  throw  it 
off  the  track.  Some  one  shouted,  "  Beware,  let  that  alone." 
He  was  ignorant ;  it  was  only  a  wire,  and  he  took  hold  of  it  and 
with  one  yell  fell  dead. 


86 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


More  Power  means  more  Risks.  —  The  power  per  man  used 
in  the  industries  to-day  is  larger  than  ever  before.  When  under 
control,  it  multiplies  human  strength  many  hundred  fold;  it 
enables  man  to  produce  an  amount  of  wealth  which  was  only 
hinted  at  by  magicians  and  alchemists  in  former  generations ; 
but  where  used  by  the  sons  of  Russia,  sluggish  as  their  own  Volga ; 
by  the  Serbs,  reckless  as  the  torrents  in  their  mountain  home ; 
by  the  Ruthenian,  stolid  because  of  centuries  of  oppression, 
it  means  increased  risk.  When  one  is  caught  in  a  modern 
machine,  there  is  very  little  hope  for  him.  A  foreigner, 
operating  a  machine  which  was  driven  at  a  high  speed, 
ought  not  to  have  worn  a  loose  blouse  in  the  presence  of  that 
monster,  but  he  did.  It  caught,  and  instantly  he  was  whirled 
to  eternity.  Speed  and  a  superabundance  of  power  are  often 
messengers  of  death  to  workmen.  We  don't  find  fault  with  either 
improved  machinery,  or  with  increased  power  per  man.  They 
are  necessary  accompaniments  to  industrial  development.  But 
if  it  is  a  crime  to  put  poison  in  the  hand  of  a  child,  is  it  not  also 
an  equal  crime  to  harness  an  ignorant  farmer  to  an  electric  rod  or 
a  dangerous  machine,  and  let  him  take  his  chances  ?  Wherever 
there  is  risk,  the  men  taking  it  ought  to  be  intelligent  enough 
to  understand  what  the  risk  is  and  be  forewarned.  That  is  not 
done  with  the  new  immigrants  who  so  freely  sacrifice  hfe  and 
limb  in  the  industries  of  North  America. 

Some  Figures  tell  a  Sad  Story.  —  We  have  not,  as  before 
stated,  reliable  statistics  of  accidents,  and  yet  the  Italian  consul 
for  western  Pennsylvania  says  that  five  hundred  ItaUans  lost 
their  lives  in  that  state  in  one  year.  The  Austrian  consul,  in  the 
same  district,  recorded  the  names  of  eighty-two  men  killed  in 
ten  months.  A  Servian  priest  counted  in  his  parish  record 
twenty-eight  violent  deaths  among  his  people  in  a  year.  In 
the  last  decade  7500  foreign-born  men  have  been  killed  in  the 
coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania.  But  in  West  Virginia,  in  Colorado, 
in  the  ore  mines  of  the  upper  peninsula  of  Michigan,  the  number 
per  thousand  killed  is  higher  than  in  the  Keystone  State,  and  in 
these  fields  the  number  of  foreigners,  wage  earners,  is  not  far 
short  of  fifty  thousand.    Add  to  the  number  of  the  slain  in  the 


ACCIDENTS 


87 


above  industries  the  list  of  men  killed  in  iron  and  steel  works, 
on  railroads,  in  grinding  trades;  and  the  vicarious  sacrifice  of 
the  foreigners  in  the  industrial  life  of  America  is  appalling. 
In  one  of  the  industrial  plants  of  the  Middle  West,  the  Poles 
were  largely  employed  in  the  grinding  department,  when  one 
Sabbath  morning  the  priest  advised  his  flock,  "  to  get  out  of 
the  grinding  shop,"  and  they  obeyed.  One  of  the  superinten- 
dents asked  the  priest,  why  he  urged  the  men  to  get  out  of  the 
grinding  department,  for  they  made  good  money.  "  Yes,"  he 
answered,  "  but  they  don't  enjoy  it  long  " ;  and  pointing  to 
the  cemetery  on  the  hillside  he  added,  "  Four  hundred  of  my 
people  lie  yonder  as  a  result  of  work  in  the  grinding  depart- 
ment." These  Fathers  of  foreign-speaking  flocks  know  what 
the  death  roll  is.  When  those  located  in  industrial  centers  are 
consulted,  they  count  the  fallen  in  mill  and  mine,  for  whose 
repose  their  prayers  are  offered. 

Little  Compensation  given.  —  We  are  fast  coming  —  and 
none  too  soon  —  to  the  place  where  the  social  conscience  of  the 
nation  will  insist  that  the  compensations  due  the  sufferers 
because  of  industrial  accidents  shall  be  a  part  of  the  cost  of 
production;  but  in  the  matter  of  compensation  the  nation  has 
set  its  face  against  the  foreigners.  Few  courts  in  the  land  give 
alien  prosecutors  as  fair  a  hearing  as  they  do  the  native-born. 
The  courts  of  Pennsylvania  for  three  generations  closed  their 
ears  to  the  cry  of  widows  and  orphans  lamenting,  in  foreign 
lands,  the  death  of  hundreds  of  foreigners  annually  killed  in 
mills  and  shops,  mines  and  quarries,  railroads  and  construction 
works  in  the  state.  The  case  of  a  foreigner  killed  at  work, 
whose  next  of  kin  resided  abroad,  was,  up  till  1911,^  outlawed 
in  the  courts  of  Pennsylvania,  no  matter  how  gross  the  negli- 
gence of  the  company  might  have  been.  An  Italian,  while 
working  on  a  railroad,  was  run  down  by  a  shunting  engine  and 

•  "Until  June  g,  igii,  the  non-resident  aliens,  i.e.  relatives  living  abroad,  had 
according  to  the  ruling  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania  no  right  of  action 
against  American  corporations.  This  ruling  excluded  about  60  per  cent  of  cases, 
where  foreigners  were  involved,  of  any  possibihty  of  recovering  damages." 
Quoted  from  letter  of  Edgar  Prochnik,  Acting  Consul  of  Austria-Hungary,  in 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. 


88 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


killed.  No  warning  was  given  the  man  —  the  gong  of  the  engine 
even  did  not  ring.  He  left  a  wife  and  chUd,  but  the  company 
refused  to  pay  anything  save  $200  for  funeral  expenses.  A 
young  Slav,  employed  as  a  teamster  in  the  mines,  was  bringing 
a  trip  of  cars  from  one  of  the  headings  to  the  foot  of  the  shaft ; 
one  of  the  cars  jumped  the  track,  and  the  driver  was  caught 
between  the  rib  and  the  load  and  instantly  killed.  The  cause 
of  the  accident  was  a  defective  frog  —  known  to  be  in  bad 
shape  before  the  accident ;  but  it  was  not  fixed  imtil  the  mis- 
chief was  done,  and  then  repaired  hurriedly.  The  foreign 
consul  took  up  the  case  with  the  owner  of  the  mine,  who  refused 
to  do  anything  save  pay  the  customary  $200.  Two  Slavs, 
working  around  a  converter  in  a  steel  plant,  were  fixing  a  rail 
so  that  the  carriage  bearing  the  ladle  might  be  brought  up  to 
the  right  place.  The  stay  under  the  rail  shook,  and  one  of  the 
men,  losing  his  balance,  fell;  the  rail  also  fell  and  instantly 
killed  him.  When  the  case  was  brought  before  the  company 
it  refused  to  consider  it.  When  a  young  Italian  was  killed 
in  a  construction  camp  through  willful  negligence  on  the  part 
of  the  company,  his  parents  tried  to  recover  damages,  but  were 
referred  to  the  Manufacturers'  Insurance  Company.  This  con- 
cern said  that  the  appellant  had  no  case,  that  no  damages  could 
be  collected,  and  that  it  would  not  pay  a  cent  —  it  kept  its  word. 

Courts  Prejudiced.  —  Talking  to  one  of  the  foreign  consuls 
in  an  industrial  center,  I  asked :  "  How  is  it  that  so  many  cases 
are  settled  for  $200?  "  His  answer  was,  "  The  companies  esti- 
mate that  it  will  cost  about  that  to  fight  the  case  in  court,  and 
if  the  claimant  will  settle  for  that  amount,  they  part  with  the 
$200  that  way."  "  Couldn't  you  get  more  on  a  good  case  by 
appealing  to  the  court?  "  I  asked.  He  shook  his  head,  and  said : 
"  The  court  is  against  the  foreigner,  and  favors  the  corporation. 
You  cannot  get  a  jury  to  give  damages  to  foreigners.  They 
say  that  too  much  money  goes  to  Europe  now,  and  they  won't 
increase  it  by  a  verdict  for  the  plaintiff."  Another  consul  wrote 
me :  "In  general  you  can  say  that  the  life  of  a  foreign  laborer 
is  not  valued  over  $200  in  Pennsylvania."  This  is  not  the 
exact  truth,  for  some  foreigners  recover  damages.   A  young 


ACCIDENTS 


89 


Slovak,  in  Pittsburgh,  having  lost  his  leg  in  unprotected  machin- 
ery, recovered  $1000  damages.^ 

All  Men  Equal  ?  —  "  We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident, 
that  all  men  are  created  equal,  that  they  are  endowed  by  their 
Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights,  that  among  these  are 
Life,  Liberty,  and  the  Pursuit  of  Happiness."  These  sentiments 
of  the  fathers  are  to-day  repudiated  by  some  of  the  sons ;  but 
the  treatment  given  the  foreigner  is  the  most  general  and  direct 
repudiation  of  this  fundamental  principle  of  this  democracy. 
When  he  lands  he  is  not  given  equal  rights  with  the  native-born ; 
and  when  he  goes  inland  he  finds  his  footsteps  dogged  by  ex- 
ploiters. In  social  and  industrial  relations,  a  different  moral 
code  is  applied  to  him  from  that  applied  to  "  white  people  " ; 
but  in  no  relation  of  life  is  the  principle  belied  as  in  the  courts 
of  the  land.  The  foreigner  cannot  get  equal  justice  with  the 
native-born,  and  the  gross  wrongs  perpetrated  against  immi- 
grants in  the  lower  courts  of  our  cities  and  small  towns  are 
tolerated  by  public  opinion  because  we  are  indifferent  to  the 
rights  of  aliens.  "  All  men  are  equal  "  is  the  cornerstone  of 
this  democracy ;  upon  it  the  fathers  built,  and  it  was  their 
shield  and  buckler  when  they  appealed  to  Christendom  in  de- 
fense of  their  protest  against  discrimination  and  injustice. 
To  depart  from  this  is  to  undermine  popular  government,  for 
we  cannot  hold  true  in  a  national  sense  a  principle  we  belie  in 
our  treatment  of  individuals. 

Disasters  fall  on  Foreigners.  —  Every  great  industrial  calam- 
ity in  the  life  of  America,  in  the  last  decade,  has  fallen  heaviest 
upon  the  foreigners.  The  Morgana,  the  Hardwick,  the  Cherry, 
the  Throop,  and  the  Chicago  disasters,  connected  with  shafts 
and  mines,  fell  almost  wholly  upon  foreigners.  The  victims  of 
the  holocausts  in  the  Brooklyn  and  Newark  factories  were  all 
of  them  foreign-born,  or  the  children  of  foreign-born  parents. 

•  The  sentiment  against  foreign-born  workers  is  well  illustrated  in  the  com- 
pulsory compensation  act  recently  passed  by  the  Kansas  legislature,  which  pro- 
vides that  dependents  of  the  victim  of  a  fatal  accident  shall  receive  a  sum  equal 
to  three  years'  wages,  not  to  exceed  $3600,  but  to  non-resident  alien  dependents 
the  sum  shall  not  exceed  $750. 

—  Survey,  Sept.  23,  ign,  p.  860. 


90 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


When  these  people  perish,  the  calamity  does  not  strike  home 
as  if  they  had  been  of  our  own  flesh  and  blood.  Some  persons 
heedlessly  say,  "  These  people  have  no  fine  feeling,  they  are  near 
the  brutes."  That  is  not  the  sentiment  of  the  American  heart, 
and  those  who  make  such  unkind  remarks  have  never  known  the 
foreigner.  When  the  cribbing  in  the  shaft  on  the  side  of  the 
lake  in  Chicago  took  fire,  and  more  than  forty  foreigners  were 
either  burned  or  smothered  to  death,  the  streets  of  South  Chicago 
were  filled  with  terror-stricken  people,  and  women  were  beside 
themselves  with  grief.  I  have  seen  a  mine  disaster  in  England, 
and  know  how  women  and  men  of  Keltic  and  Anglo-Saxon 
stock  act  under  such  an  ordeal ;  and  when  that  dreadful  calamity 
fell  upon  the  Slavs  in  Chicago  the  wives  and  mothers,  relatives 
and  friends,  acted  pretty  much  the  same.  Pale  with  fear, 
women  wrung  their  hands  in  agony,  and  moaned,  prostrated 
with  grief,  weeping  over  their  dead.  When  the  day  of  the 
funeral  came.  South  Chicago  was  in  mourning.  The  streets 
were  thronged  with  people  of  all  nationalities,  but  it  was  not 
a  festive  day  —  it  was  a  day  of  sadness  and  gloom,  for  widows 
and  orphans  cried,  and  there  were  none  to  comfort  them.  Amid 
that  throng  there  were  hearts  as  sympathetic  with  their  fellow 
men  as  were  foimd  among  any  people  in  similar  circumstances. 

Foreign  Hearts  feel.  —  The  family  tie  rudely  torn  in  a  mo- 
ment by  a  dreadful  disaster  strikes  terror  into  aU  hearts,  and 
to  imagine  that  the  Slav  and  Lithuanian,  the  Magyar  and  the 
Finn,  the  Italian  and  the  Greek,  difi'er  in  this  respect  from  the 
English-speaking,  is  a  mistake.  In  the  Throop  disaster,  when 
kind  hands  ministered  to  the  families  of  the  dead,  two  women 
came  to  a  house  where  a  victim  slept  the  sleep  of  death.  There 
was  only  a  little  girl  in  that  home,  and  she  could  not  wake  her 
"  Pa."  They  asked  her,  "  Where  is  your  mother?  "  and  the 
child  said:  "I  don't  know.  She's  out."  The  women  asked 
the  neighbors :  "  Where  is  the  wife  and  the  mother ;  surely  she 
could  not  have  been  so  cruel  as  to  desert  her  home  on  such  an 
occasion  ?  "  The  neighbors  assured  the  succorers  that  she  was 
not  a  woman  of  that  kind  —  she  was  around  somewhere.  They 
searched,  and  at  last  found  her  outside  the  town,  wandering 


ACCIDENTS 


91 


in  the  bush  —  insane.  The  cords  of  that  heart  did  not  break, 
but  the  shock  was  too  great  for  a  loving  mother  and  wife.  The 
one  great  Father  has  made  us  all  aUke,  and  when  distress  or 
calamity  befalls  us,  we  feel  it.  If  we  remember  this,  and  give 
the  foreigner  who  sacrifices  so  much  in  our  industries  a  "  square 
deal,"  he  will  feel  happier,  and  so  wiU  we. 

Improvement  is  made.  —  The  bitter  cry  of  foreigners  in- 
jured in  mines  and  mills  has  long  been  heard  in  the  land.  Foreign 
governments  ^  have  protested  against  discriminations  and  in- 
justices. Philanthropic  and  Christian  agencies  have  cham- 
pioned the  cause  of  the  alien  \-ictims,  and  have  argued  that  they 
deserve  equal  justice  with  the  native-born  industrial  workers. 
We  believe  that  marked  improvement  has  been  made  in  this 
respect  in  recent  years,  but  there  is  still  much  territory  to  be 
covered.  Protection  against  injury  has  become  the  watchword 
of  the  twentieth  century,  and  rapid  strides  are  made  in  the 
conservation  of  life  and  limb  in  the  industries  of  America.  But 
the  needs  of  the  foreign-speaking  workers  have  not  had  the 
attention  they  deserve.  They  demand  special  study,  for  by 
previous  training  and  culture  these  men  differ  widely  from  the 
native-born  or  from  the  English-speaking  immigrant.  They 
are  ignorant  of  oiu:  language,  of  our  industrial  life,  and  think 
and  move  slowly.  The  antidotes  to  these  ills  are  s>Tnpathy 
and  education.  The  foreigners  employed  in  hazardous  indus- 
tries should  have  a  knowledge  of  EngUsh.  In  certain  callings 
this  should  be  made  compulsory.  The  dangers  also  incident  to 
risky  employments  should  be  fully  explained  and  demonstrated. 
Protective  measures  of  this  nature  would  reduce  the  number  of 
accidents,  would  instil  into  the  employees  of  a  plant  or  a  mine 
the  spirit  of  watchfulness  and  cooperation,  would  make  each 
worker  conscious  that  he  is  responsible  for  the  safety  of  his  fellow 
worker,  and  the  motto  "  no  accidents,"  would  soon  become 
the  pride  and  joy  of  all  industrial  workers  and  their  employers. 

'"The  Austrian  government  issued  an  order  January,  1912,  to  all  its  cousuls 
and  immigrant  agents  in  the  United  States  not  to  send  an  immigrant  subject  of 
Austria  to  the  mills  or  mines  of  the  states  of  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Illinois,  and 
Michigan,  for  the  reason  that  the  number  of  .Austrians  killed  in  these  states  was 
appalling  and  the  number  of  the  maimed  returned  to  the  fatherland  was  large." 


CHAPTER  VII 


EFFICIENCY  AND  PROGRESS 

The  men  of  the  new  immigration  are  workers.  If  Rousseau's 
maxim,  "  Every  idle  citizen  is  a  knave,"  were  the  measure  of 
these  people's  value,  they  would  all  be  classified  as  loyal  citizens. 
The  vast  majority  of  them  come  from  agricultural  communities, 
where  the  virtues  of  simplicity,  family  affection,  capacity  for 
work,  courtesy  and  gentleness,  plain  living  and  thrift,  are 
cultivated  ;  and  these  quaUties,  if  conserved  and  fostered,  should 
help  them  to  efl&ciency  and  progress  in  the  new  world.  Of 
course,  there  is  a  vast  difference  between  people  and  people. 
The  Finn  is  so  stolid  that  you  can  slap  him  in  the  face  and  he 
wUl  not  wince ;  but  I  saw  an  ItaHan  waiter  turn  pale  when 
reminded  that  he  had  neglected  to  bring  a  guest  a  napkin ;  the 
Greek  will  not  drink,  but  he  will  lie ;  a  Pole  -will  do  both,  and  still 
work  hard ;  an  Armenian  is  calculative  and  humble ;  a  Lithua- 
nian submissive  and  generous ;  a  Jew  will  take  everything  you 
give  him  and  be  grateful ;  a  Magyar  stands  on  his  dignity  and 
believes  in  quid  pro  quo.  And  these  racial  qualities  mark  the 
people  desirable  or  undesirable,  and  spell  success  or  failure  in 
the  group.  Every  race  in  the  new  immigration  is  put  to  the 
test  in  our  social  and  industrial  life :  if  they  manifest  quaUties 
that  build  up  and  strengthen  society,  they  enrich  the  nation ;  if 
degenerating  qualities  predominate,  they  become  a  curse. 

Industrial  Discipline.  —  Nothing  in  modern  life  is  more  splen- 
did than  the  sight  of  a  thousand  men  in  an  industrial  plant, 
each  doing  his  part  in  a  process  which  converts  raw  material 
into  finished  products.  The  evolutions  of  a  discipUned  army, 
imder  skillful  commanders,  is  as  nothing  compared  with  this 
army  of  producers  under  captains  of  industry,  marshaled  each 
morning  at  a  stated  hour,  and  making  possible  the  continuous 
flow  of  wealth  enjoyed  by  men.    All  the  problems  incident  to 

92 


EFFICIENCY  AND  PROGRESS 


93 


making  a  living  are  involved  in  the  activity  and  endeavor  of 
these  men,  and  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  this  democracy 
depend  more  upon  the  quality  of  men  earning  their  bread  by 
the  sweat  of  their  brow  than  upon  any  other  group.  The  for- 
eign-born workers  form  an  essential  factor  in  the  thirty-seven 
million  workers  of  America ;  and  the  country  is  interested  in  the 
industrial  efficiency  of  the  men  from  southeastern  Europe  and 
wants  to  know  what  progress,  if  any,  they  are  making  —  these 
are  the  questions  discussed  in  this  chapter. 

Their  Wages  Increase.  —  The  wage  earned  by  men  is,  in  a 
general  way,  an  indicator  of  their  industrial  efficiency.  A  study 
of  the  wages  earned  by  the  men  of  the  new  immigration  reflects 
the  value  placed  on  their  service  by  society.  The  lowest  wage 
in  the  land  is  paid  the  men  of  southeastern  Europe,  and  more 
than  90  per  cent  of  them  get  less  than  $400  a  year.  There 
is  a  great  difference  between  the  wage  of  these  men  and  that  of 
men  of  the  old  immigration,  and  a  still  greater  difference  be- 
tween it  and  that  of  the  native-born.  The  new  immigrants, 
as  before  stated,  are  the  men  who  suffer  most  from  intermittent 
labor.  The  work  they  do  is  unskilled,  but  employers  in- 
variably say  that  they  are  faithful  and  persevering.  Those 
who  stay  in  the  country  long  enough  and  prove  that  they  can 
adapt  themselves  to  our  industrial  life,  rise  in  efficiency  and  get 
a  higher  wage.  We  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  men  of 
the  new  immigration  will  turn  out  any  worse  than  those  of 
the  old,  and  a  study  of  the  lowest  wages  paid  shows  that  very 
few  of  the  English-speaking  immigrants  are  at  present  in  that 
class.  There  was  a  time  when  they  occupied  the  lowest  economic 
level ;  but  they  have  disappeared  from  this,  and  the  new  immi- 
gration has  taken  their  place.  It  is  only  a  question  of  time 
when  the  newcomers  will  increase  in  economic  efficiency  and 
rise  to  higher  levels.  The  question,  whence  will  America  draw 
its  labor  supply  to  fill  these  lower  levels  as  the  Slav  and  ItaHan 
leave  them,  ought  not  to  concern  us.  What  is  of  vital  interest 
to  all  just  now  is,  how  can  this  unskilled  foreign-born  worker 
increase  his  efficiency  and  thus  increase  his  earning  powers? 
However,  income  is  not  the  right  criterion  by  which  to  measure 


94 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


a  man's  value  to  society  and  his  future  possibilities.  A  Slav 
digging  coal  is  of  far  greater  service  to  society  than  a  rich  liber- 
tine who  cannot  find  ways  varied  enough  to  spend  his  money 
and  kill  ennui.  A  family  of  workers  may  have  in  it  far  greater 
promise  than  a  stem  of  an  old  house  that  is  fast  dying  out. 
Industrial  efficiency  and  promise  of  progress  are  dependent  on 
moral  far  more  than  on  physical  qualities.  The  men  of  the  new 
immigration  have  in  them  good  and  bad  characteristics;  but 
we  believe  that  the  good  predominates  and  if  properly  directed 
will  prove  an  asset  of  great  value  to  America. 

Bad  Qualities  Copied.  —  Mr.  Weeks,  a  superintendent  of  one 
of  the  Subway  Coke  Company  plants,  said :  "  The  first  thing  a 
foreigner  learns  is  to  count  money,  and  the  second,  to  say  Jesus 
Christ."  Foreigners  who  cannot  talk  a  word  of  English  are 
able  to  calculate  so  accm-ately  the  two  weeks'  pay  coming 
to  them  that  a  mistake  of  an  hour  in  their  time  or  of  ten  cents 
in  their  pay  is  discerned.  As  for  swearing,  many  foreigners 
innocently  contract  the  habit,  knowing  not  the  meaning  of  the 
words  they  use.  They  learn  also  to  smoke  and  chew,  drink 
and  gamble,  more  profusely  in  America  than  was  the  custom  in 
the  homeland,  because  they  have  more  money  to  spend  on  luxu- 
ries. They  imitate  undesirable  external  qualities  in  Americans 
of  the  worse  sort,  and  imagine  that  they  are  better  workmen 
because  of  it.  The  American  wage  earner  has  his  excellences 
—  his  intelligence,  his  power  of  self-direction,  his  self-reUance, 
his  ingenuity  and  intensity,  his  courage  and  application,  are 
conspicuous ;  but  the  foreigners  as  a  body  do  not  appreciate 
these  qualities  and  emulate  them,  but  the  gross  and  undesirable 
characteristics  of  the  careless  and  thriftless  native-born  worker 
are  marked  and  copied.  The  southeastern  Europeans  are  not 
profane ;  but  thousands  of  them  in  the  mining  and  steel  indus- 
tries have  contracted  the  habit,  and  have  attained  a  proficiency 
that  is  painful  and  humiliating.  The  new  immigration  is  capa- 
ble of  far  better  things,  and  can  be  molded  into  better  habits  if 
given  wholesome  example.  But,  unfortunately,  the  foreigner, 
in  industrial  life,  has  often  fallen  into  the  hands  of  men  who 
care  more  for  tonnage  than  human  rights  and  character;  and, 


EFFICIENCY  AND  PROGRESS 


95 


in  social  life,  the  Americans  they  meet  are  the  remnant  of  an 
older  immigration,  still  living  in  a  neighborhood  forsaken  by 
the  English-speaking,  and  incapable  of  economic  advancement 
or  social  efficiency.  Generally  speaking,  the  social  and  indus- 
trial efficiency  and  progress  of  the  foreigners  has  been  wholly 
left  to  chance.  No  systematic  effort  has  been  made  to  train 
this  man  as  a  worker  or  as  a  member  of  society.  This  mass  of 
humanity,  coming  from  agricultural  communities,  is  plastic 
and  capable  of  being  molded  into  the  standard  of  American 
manhood.  We  cannot  expect,  however,  that  these  sons  of 
backward  peoples  will  themselves  shape  their  lives  according 
to  our  ideals.  Before  the  man  can  conform  to  the  best  that  is 
in  America,  he  must  be  touched  by  the  right  kind  of  men  in  the 
shop,  in  the  court,  in  business  and  community  life ;  and  this 
costs  effort.  Weeds  grow  of  their  own  accord ;  good  wheat  and 
corn  are  the  result  of  careful  planting  and  hoeing. 

Undesirable  Qualities.  —  The  new  immigrants  bring  some 
qualities  which  interfere  with  their  efficiency  —  they  need  lop- 
ping off.  The  racial  hatred  and  jealousy  before  referred  to  is 
un-American  and  out  of  place  in  factory,  mill,  or  mine.  Cliques 
and  combinations  along  racial  Unes  to  defeat  men  of  another 
nationahty  is  annoying  to  the  management  and  interferes  with 
the  efficiency  of  the  plant.  The  foreigner  needs  to  be  taught 
that  the  accideiit  of  birth  is  not  a  determining  factor  in  American 
manhood.  A  foreman  who,  in  order  to  get  more  work  out  of 
his  men,  stirs  up  old-world  prejudice  and  racial  hatred,  is  also 
out  of  sympathy  with  American  ideals.  Race  antagonism  has 
no  place  on  American  soil,  where,  from  the  beginning,  white 
men  have  freely  mixed  to  produce  the  present  type ;  and  all 
agencies  promoting  racial  jealousies  and  hatreds  are  checks  to 
the  development  of  the  best  and  noblest  in  humanity. 

Many  Holidays.  —  The  foreigners  also  have  many  holidays, 
which  are  an  annoyance  to  many  employers.  The  Greek  Church 
has  more  than  eighty  festivals  in  the  year,  and  immigrants  of 
this  faith  were  in  the  habit  of  celebrating  them  in  the  old 
country ;  when  they  come  to  America,  they  cannot  do  so  and 
render  efficient  service  in  our  industries.    In  the  Balkans  one  of 


q6  the  new  immigration 

i 

the  most  serious  hindrances  to  economic  prosperity  is  ecclesi- 
astical restriction,  from  both  Christian  and  Mohammedan 
sources,  upon  the  number  of  work  days  in  the  year.  Men,  ac- 
customed to  these  suspensions,  feel  they  can  do  the  same  in 
America.  Some  mining  shafts  in  which  one-fourth  of  the  labor 
force  is  Greek  Catholic  are  forced  to  shut  down  when  these  men 
celebrate  a  feast.  I  once  visited  a  Polish  priest,  in  the  coal 
fields  of  West  Virginia,  on  one  of  the  feast  days  of  the  Church. 
I  asked  the  gentleman  if  any  of  the  Poles  worked  that  day ;  he 
looked  at  me  in  amazement,  and  said :  "No,  they  would  rather 
die  than  work  on  this  holy  day."  Captain  Daniels,  in  charge 
of  one  of  the  ore  mines  in  Michigan,  had  considerable  trouble 
with  Greek  Catholics  celebrating  Christmas  and  New  Year 
according  to  the  Greek  Calendar.  His  labor  force  was  practi- 
cally disorganized  for  several  weeks  when  these  holidays  occurred, 
for  both  Roman  and  Greek  worshipers  followed  the  tradition 
of  the  Fathers.  The  captain,  however,  called  the  men  of  the 
latter  faith  together,  and  gave  them  the  choice  of  celebrating 
these  festivities  at  the  same  time  as  the  majority  of  the  mine 
force  did  or  looking  for  other  jobs.  The  economic  appeal  settled 
all  religious  difficulties. 

Foreigners  Drink.  —  The  drink  habit  of  many  foreigners 
interferes  with  their  efficiency.  The  Finns  and  Slavs  are  heavy 
drinkers,  and  some  of  these  immigrants  have  contracted  the 
habit  of  buying  alcohol  to  mix  with  their  coffee.^  A  decade 
ago  the  port  towns  of  Lake  Erie  were  scenes  of  many  orgies. 
The  dock  workers  believed  that  a  vessel  could  not  be  unloaded 
unless  they  had  from  four  to  five  kegs  of  beer.  The  sailors 
thought  that  a  good  time  in  port  meant  a  staggering  drunk  and 
a  brutal  row.  Saloons  flourished,  and  so  did  bawdy  houses.  The 
companies  operating  the  docks  and  the  vessels  took  the  matter 
in  hand,  and  the  foreigners  in  these  port  towns  to-day  are  decent, 
if  not  sober.    Drunkenness  and  debauchery  were  a  menace  to 

*  In  the  iron  ore  fields  of  Michigan,  one  of  the  operators  found  his  supply  of 
paraflBn  stolen  for  drinking  purposes.  Paraffin  was  also  used  in  Russia  to  dilute 
voika  before  its  sale  was  taken  over  by  the  government.  See  "  The  Russian 
People,"  p.  58,  by  Maurice  Baring. 


EFFICIENCY  AND  PROGRESS 


97 


property  and  a  serious  hindrance  to  industrial  efficiency,  and 
the  management  put  a  stop  to  them.  The  foreign-born  em- 
ployees, however,  on  ore  docks  stUl  drink.  A  Pole,  who  had 
quit  the  ore  docks,  gave  the  following  reason  for  so  doing :  "I 
make  $1.70  a  day,  and  spend  a  dollar  of  it  on  grog."  The  Mary- 
land Steel  Company  at  Sparrows  Point  regulates  the  drink 
habit  of  its  employees  by  favorable  geographical  conditions. 
It  occupies  a  piece  of  land  in  shape  very  much  like  a  bottle,  the 
narrow  neck  of  which  connects  it  to  the  mainland.  No  saloon 
can  locate  on  this  property,  and  no  drink  can  be  sold  within  a 
radius  of  three  miles.  If  the  men  want  booze,  they  have  to  go 
to  Baltimore  for  it ;  and  if  imder  the  influence  of  liquor  when 
they  return  to  the  company's  property,  they  must  behave 
themselves.  Contrast  this  with  the  mining  towns  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  it  is  nothing  unusual  for  judges  to  grant  a  license 
for  every  hundred  persons  —  men,  women,  and  children.  These 
towns,  wholly  occupied  by  foreigners,  on  pay  nights,  are  full 
of  drunkards,  and  the  orgies  begun  on  Saturday  continue  till 
Sunday  night,  when  stupor  and  slumber  silence  the  revelries. 
This  drink  habit  is  un-American,  and  unless  curbed  it  threatens 
large  sections  of  our  industrial  population  with  a  curse  more 
terrible  than  the  white  plague. 

Foreigners  don't  Eat  Enough.  —  Many  foreigners  don't  eat 
enough  nourishing  food  to  keep  up  the  strength  of  the  body. 
Those  who  have  recently  come  over  are  inclined  to  eat  as  they 
were  wont  to  in  the  fatherland,  not  thinking  of  the  stress  and 
strain  of  American  industrial  hf e  and  the  need  of  more  and  better 
food  to  stand  it.  Two  Syrians,  looking  for  employment,  came 
to  the  office  of  Mr.  Breece,  the  employment  agent  of  the  Ber- 
wick Steel  plant.  He  immediately  "  sized  them  up,"  and  said : 
"  No,  you're  too  weak,  you  don't  eat  enough."  Turning  to 
me,  he  said :  "  Syrians  are  no  good  in  the  mill.  They  may  be 
all  right  for  peddlers.  They  can't  stand  hard  work."  One  of 
the  foremen  of  the  International  Heater  Company  was  in  the 
habit  of  going  around  when  the  foreigners  ate  their  luncheon, 
and  his  observation  was  that  the  Italians  made  a  meal  on  bread 
and  pickles.    The  same  low  standard  is  practiced  by  many 


98 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


Greeks.  A  proverb  says  that  "  A  Greek  can  live  on  the  smell 
of  an  oiled  rag ; "  and  the  standard  hinted  at  in  it  is  practiced 
by  these  men  in  small  trades  and  stores.  A  low  standard  of 
living  is  the  rule  when  foreigners  first  come ;  but  it  is  not  long 
before  they  change  for  the  better.  This,  again,  is  a  matter  of 
education ;  and  it  is  hopeless  to  expect  foreigners  to  give  up  their 
craving  for  stimulants  until  they  are  taught  to  eat  nourishing 
and  wholesome  food. 

Some  Foreigners  Thieves.  —  Many  of  the  foreigners  from 
southeastern  Europe  are  inveterate  thieves.  Mr.  WyUie,  fore- 
man of  the  Norfolk  and  Western  yard  at  Portsmouth,  Ohio, 
lost  two  trucks.  A  gang  of  Greeks  worked  near  by,  elevating 
the  tracks,  and  he  said,  "  They  have  them."  He  ordered  his 
men  to  search  the  camp,  and  one  truck  was  recovered,  but  the 
other  was  safely  stowed  away  beyond  recovery.  These  men 
lived  two  miles  away  from  town,  and  a  railroad  truck  was  just 
what  they  needed  to  get  in  their  supplies.  A  plant  in  Erie 
changed  its  motive  power  from  steam  to  electricity,  and  Super- 
intendent Walker  got  a  seamless  leather  belt,  eight  inches  wide 
and  half  an  inch  thick,  to  carry  power  from  a  large  dynamo 
to  the  shafts.  One  morning,  as  the  men  assembled,  the  belt 
was  found  on  the  floor  and  a  piece  eight  feet  long  cut  out  and 
stolen.  In  a  large  rubber  factory,  when  German  and  Irish 
girls  made  up  the  labor  force,  the  management  had  no  complaints 
of  theft  and  no  demand  for  lockers.  But  in  recent  years  thefts 
are  common.  Ribbons,  feathers,  and  hatpins  disappear,  and 
the  company  has  put  in  lockers  to  protect  the  property  of  English- 
speaking  girls  in  their  factory.  While  passing  through  the 
Finishing  Works  of  Passaic,  I  saw  the  names  of  eight  men 
posted  in  several  places  throughout  the  factory.  I  asked  Mr. 
Ketchum,  the  manager,  what  it  meant,  and  he  said :  "  Two 
wagons  would  not  carry  the  goods  we  took  from  those  men's 
houses  —  goods  they  had  stolen  from  the  factory."  Each  man 
was  fined  $50  and  sent  to  jail  for  thirty  days.  A  foreigner,  one 
evening,  was  brought  into  the  superintendent's  office  and 
seventy  yards  of  mercerized  linen  unwound  from  around  his 
body.    The  man  explained  that  he  wanted  to  give  a  wedding 


EFFICIENCY  AND  PROGRESS 


99 


present  to  a  young  Polish  girl  about  to  be  married.  This 
thieving  propensity  of  employees  from  among  southeastern 
Europeans  is  a  subject  of  general  complaint  among  employers, 
A  superintendent  of  a  brass  foundry  in  the  West  weftt  to  the 
priest  and  complained  of  the  theft  of  the  people.  The  Father 
preached  a  special  sermon  on  honesty,  which  had  its  effect,  but 
the  employer  said :  "  It  lasted  only  about  two  weeks  —  they 
are  at  it  again."  The  sense  of  property  rights  is  wanting  or 
else  very  slightly  developed  in  many  of  these  peoples. 

Foreigners  not  Truthful.  —  They  also  have  no  right  concep- 
tion of  veracity.  They  will  deliberately  lie,  and  be  as  calm  and 
self-possessed  about  it  as  if  they  knew  no  compunction.  A 
settlement  worker  in  New  Haven,  located  among  the  foreigners, 
asked  the  girls  in  her  club  if  they  told  the  truth.  They  said, 
"  No,"  and  then  added,  that  no  one  told  the  truth  but  "  the 
Sisters  in  the  school."  A  superintendent  of  a  leather  factory 
in  Nashua,  complaining  of  the  Greeks  in  his  plant,  said  :  "  They 
have  no  sense  of  honor;  you  can't  rely  upon  them;  they  lie 
and  do  it  cunningly."  Judges  in  the  courts  have  observed  the 
same  thing.  When  a  case  was  tried  in  Schuylkill  County, 
Pennsylvania,  a  foreigner,  the  star  witness  for  the  prosecution, 
was  tampered  with  while  at  luncheon.  The  man  was  summoned 
to  the  stand  and  testified  that  a  countryman  had  approached 
him  saying :  "  An  oath  in  the  courthouse  is  not  an  oath  in 
the  church."  Every  judge  having  experience  with  foreigners 
is  convinced  that  they  are  unreliable ;  and  not  only  is  this  the 
opinion  of  the  judges,  but  court  interpreters  also  affirm  that 
the  average  man  from  southeastern  Europe  seldom  tells  the 
truth  if  the  matter  in  hand  affects  him  or  his  countrymen. 

Desirable  Qualities.  —  There  is  another  side  to  the  shield  — • 
the  new  immigrants  have  many  desirable  qualities.  As  before 
stated,  the  nationalities  of  the  new  immigration  are  found  in 
the  basic  industries,  such  as  coal  mining,  iron  and  steel  plants, 
meat  packing,  slaughtering,  tanning,  etc.  Those  who  enter 
these  employments  are  hard  workers,  regular,  uncomplaining, 
and  submissive.  It  was  once  thought  that  coal  could  not  be 
mined  save  by  expert  miners  from  Great  Britain ;  but  to-day 


lOO 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


seven  times  as  much  coal  is  mined  as  was  mined  thirty  years 
ago,  and  75  per  cent  of  the  labor  force  is  made  up  of 
men  from  southeastern  Europe.  Experienced  foremen  say 
that  many  Poles,  Lithuanians,  Ruthenians,  Croats,  etc.,  make 
as  good  miners  as  ever  handled  a  drill.  Most  of  these  men 
never  saw  a  coal  mine  before  they  entered  one  in  America ;  but 
thousands  are  now  experts  in  the  art.  We  have  spoken  in  the 
previous  chapter  of  accidents  to  foreigners.  It  is  worthy  of 
note,  however,  that  the  number  per  thousand  killed  to-day 
in  the  mines  of  Pennsylvania  is  not  greater  than  it  was  twenty- 
five  years  ago,  when  the  industry  was  in  the  hands  of  Kelts 
and  Teutons.  Mr.  Huston,  of  Coatesville,  Pa.,  has  seen  the 
old  and  the  new  immigration  enter  the  steel  industry,  and  his 
conviction  is,  that  the  Hungarians  are  more  intelligent  and  effi- 
cient than  the  unskilled  workers  who  came  from  the  British  Isles 
thirty  or  forty  years  ago.  The  Magyars  are  capable  men.  In 
an  axle  works  in  the  Pittsburgh  district  these  men  were  put 
to  forge  axles,  which  requires  special  skill ;  they  did  the  work 
and  are  still  doing  it.  Men  of  the  same  nationality  were  em- 
ployed in  Barber  ton,  Ohio,  to  make  casting.  The  manager 
told  me  that  they  did  twice  the  work  done  by  EngUsh-speaking 
men,  and  reduced  the  loss  due  to  carelessness  to  nothing.  Dur- 
ing the  last  twenty-five  years,  when  the  southeastern  Europeans 
have  been  pouring  into  the  country,  the  production  of  mill 
and  mine,  of  factory  and  shop,  has  increased  per  annum  more 
than  $679  per  employee,  and  it  is  the  best  testimony  possible 
to  the  efficiency  of  the  foreign-born  workers,  who  form  so  es- 
sential a  part  of  the  working  force  of  the  nation. 

A.  A.  Paryski,  Publisher.  —  If  we  measure  the  potentiality 
of  a  race  by  the  individuals  who  have  made  good,  there  is  hardly 
a  people  in  the  new  immigration  that  has  not  its  representative. 
A.  A.  Paryski,  the  proprietor  of  the  Polish  Printing  House  of 
Toledo,  is  a  man  of  whom  the  city  is  proud.  He  prints  every 
year  more  Polish  books  than  any  printing  house  in  Poland,  and 
conducts  a  business  that  annually  amounts  to  nearly  three 
quarters  of  a  million  dollars.  Thirty  years  ago  he  came  to 
America  to  escape  military  service,  and  began  life  as  a  farm 


EFFICIENCY  AND  PROGRESS 


lOI 


hand  in  Michigan.  After  two  years  he  came  to  Toledo,  learned 
the  printing  business,  and  is  the  possessor  to-day  of  a  plant 
worth  more  than  $300,000.  He  has  fought  his  way  to  the  front, 
triumphed  over  his  foes,  and  to-day  is  one  of  the  most  potent 
forces  in  shaping  the  Poles  of  America  into  loyal  citizens  of 
this  repubUc.  M.  B.  Slyzynski,  of  Chicago,  is  another  Pole, 
who  is  a  wise  leader  and  capable  guide,  having  the  confidence 
of  his  own  people  and  that  of  Americans. 

F.  L.  Frugone.  —  F.  L.  Frugone,  another  newspaper  pro- 
prietor, edits  one  of  the  most  influential  Italian  papers  in  the 
Union.  When  seventeen  years  of  age  he  landed  in  New  York 
City.  His  destination  was  the  coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania, 
but  he  was  robbed  on  board  the  ship  of  every  cent  he  possessed, 
and  could  not  leave  the  city.  All  he  possessed  were  the  clothes 
he  wore  ;  but  he  had  two  strong  arms,  and  he  was  not  afraid  of 
work.  His  first  job  was  in  a  printer's  shop  at  $4  a  week.  He 
advanced  steadily  until  he  knew  the  trade  and  was  promoted 
to  the  position  of  foreman  of  a  large  shop.  During  the  Spanish- 
American  war  he  started  an  Italian  paper,  and  has  published  it 
since.  His  influence  among  his  people  is  wholesome ;  he  touches 
nearly  200,000  of  his  countrymen  in  America ;  he  has  the  con- 
fidence of  his  countrymen  because  of  his  broad  sympathies 
and  common  sense ;  his  aim  has  always  been  to  lead  his  readers 
into  sympathetic  relation  with  all  that  is  American.  Ernesto 
Fabri,  CavaUer  Grilli,  Dr.  Antonio  Stella,  etc.,  are  Italians  of 
great  worth  and  of  whom  all  Americans  who  know  them  are 
proud. 

In  every  city  in  the  North  Atlantic  and  North  Central  States, 
where  the  new  immigration  is  found,  we  meet  substantial,  pro- 
gressive, loyal  citizens  among  the  Slavs  and  Lithuanians,  Ital- 
ians and  Greeks,  Jews  and  Armenians,  etc.,  —  men  who  would 
be  an  honor  to  any  country  and  who  are  respected  in  the  com- 
munities where  they  live.  They  are  born  leaders  of  the  right 
kind  to  their  countrymen,  they  prosper  by  thrift  and  business 
ability,  and  they  love  the  country  of  their  adoption  as  loyally 
as  any  native  born  of  native  parentage. 

Efficient  in  Work.  —  The  foreigners  in  the  rank  and  file  of 


I02 


TBE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


workingmen  are  honored  and  appreciated  by  fair-minded  men. 
An  Irishman,  bossing  in  a  steel  mill,  was  prejudiced  against  the 
foreigners,  and  did  not  want  any  on  his  force  ;  but  during  a  scar- 
city of  "  hands  "  he  was  induced  to  take  a  few  on,  under  protest. 
Within  two  months  all  the  men  under  him  were  foreign-born. 
The  superintendent  one  day  twitted  him  by  saying :  "  Mike, 
I  thought  you  didn't  like  these  Hunkies  —  have  you  changed?" 
"  Sure,"  was  his  reply.  "  I  like  them  now,  for  they  do  what  you 
tell  'em  and  they  don't  talk  back."  In  a  shoe  firm,  the  manager 
gave  a  young  Greek  the  task  of  measuring  leather  which  the 
firm  purchased,  and  his  testimony  was,  "  He  is  the  best  man  I 
ever  had  to  do  the  work,"  and  he  gave  the  following  reason  for 
the  statement :  "  An  American  young  man,  if  he  sees  that  the 
measurement  does  not  correspond  with  the  invoice,  will  make 
it  correspond,  but  this  Greek,  if  there  is  a  discrepancy  of  a  foot, 
will  begin  all  over  again  and  carefully  see  where  the  error  is." 
"  Dago  Joe  "  is  a  factory  hand  in  Buffalo,  but  he  is  keen,  capable, 
and  careful,  and  he  is  the  expert  operator  in  one  of  the  depart- 
ments. His  task  is  to  plan  work  and  see  that  the  workers  do 
it  in  the  most  expeditious  way  —  expert,  if  you  will,  in  "  Scien- 
tific Management."  His  employer  believes  him  to  be  one  of 
the  most  capable  men  who  ever  entered  the  works,  and  the 
employees  all  swear  by  Joe.  John  Giffert  is  a  young  Slav,  and 
came  to  this  country  when  fourteen  years  of  age.  He  hung 
around  automobile  shops,  for  he  had  a  bent  for  mechanism. 
At  length  he  became  a  chauffeur.  He  got  into  the  employment 
of  a  rich  man  who  knew  the  worth  of  the  boy.  John  knows  an 
automobile  now,  and  can  fix  them  up.  He  is  buying  old  ones, 
fixing  them  up,  and  selhng  them  again.  He  is  about  thirty 
years  of  age,  but  he  owns  a  house  worth  $ii,ooo  and  is  now 
set  up  in  business  for  himself. 

Mother  "Wit.  —  Mother  wit  is  also  not  wanting  in  the  men 
of  the  new  immigration.  The  manager  of  a  factory  in  Moline 
wanted  a  larger  water  supply  for  the  plant,  and  so  drilled  a  well 
in  the  cellar  of  the  boiler  house  and  secured  a  fine  flow.  He 
was  anxious  to  learn  how  large  was  the  output  of  the  well,  and  the 
men  in  the  office,  college  graduates,  spent  a  day  constructing  a 


EFFICIENCY  AND  PROGRESS 


weir  by  which  it  could  be  measured.  The  mechanism  was  put 
in  order,  and  complicated  mathematical  formulae  used  to  com- 
pute the  outflow ;  but  the  answers  varied  and  no  accurate  figures 
secured.  All  were  tired  and  chagrined,  when  the  Slav,  who 
tended  the  boilers,  appeared  on  the  scene.  He  had  watched 
their  work,  and  saw  their  disgust,  and  so  secured  a  barrel,  which 
he  brought  with  him  to  the  cellar.  He  placed  it  by  the  four-inch 
pipe  through  which  the  water  flowed.  He  turned  to  the  man- 
ager and  said,  "  Time,  please,"  then  he  lifted  the  pipe  to  the 
barrel  and  filled  it.  "  How  much,  boss?  "  said  the  foreigner. 
He  then  emptied  the  barrel,  placed  it  in  position  again,  and  once 
more  said,  '  Time,"  as  he  lifted  the  pipe  and  filled  the  barrel 
the  second  time.  He  than  asked:  "  How  much,  boss?  "  and 
got  the  same  answer  as  before.  The  capacity  of  the  barrel  was 
known,  and  the  outflow  per  minute  secured.  The  Slav  bowed, 
and  went  back  to  the  boiler  house,  while  the  manager  laughed  at 
the  crestfallen  college  graduates. 

Some  have  Business  Ability.  —  Many  of  these  people  show 
considerable  business  ability  and  enterprise.  A  Russian  in 
Lowell,  Mass.,  has  been  there  for  less  than  five  years,  but  he 
is  one  of  the  substantial  citizens  of  the  town.  He  started  life 
in  America  as  an  employee  in  a  shoe  factory,  for  $6  a  week ; 
but  before  the  end  of  the  year  he  was  making  double  that.  He 
then  went  into  the  bakery  business,  learned  the  trade,  and  within 
two  years  was  getting  $25  a  week.  He  then  opened  a  bakery 
of  his  own,  and  soon  found  that  his  success  depended  upon  his 
getting  a  kneading  machine  worth  $500.  He  went  to  the  bank 
to  borrow  that  amount,  but  the  manager  wanted  security.  The 
foreigner  had  a  friend  in  the  foreman  of  the  shoe  factory,  where 
he  formerly  worked,  and  he  asked  him  to  become  his  security. 
Both  went  to  the  bank,  and  the  native-born  said  to  the  manager, 
"  I'll  back  this  man  to  the  extent  of  $5000,  if  he  wants  it.  He 
is  one  of  the  best  men  I  ever  knew."  A  Greek  in  Milwaulcee 
leads  the  Greek  community  in  that  city.  He  landed  in  New 
York  with  seventy-five  cents  in  his  pocket  —  if  he  came  to-day 
he  would  be  deported.  He  set  to  work  and  saved  a  few  hundred 
dollars,  but  in  the  panic  of  1893  all  his  savings  were  lost.  He 


I04 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


suffered  much  during  that  crisis.  He  slept  in  odd  places,  tied 
old  rags  around  his  feet  to  keep  them  from  freezing ;  but  he  had 
courage,  and  worked  his  way  to  the  West.  He  is  to-day  the 
proprietor  of  two  stores,  and  is  prosperous.  No  nation  among 
the  new  immigrants  displays  greater  enterprise  in  this  respect 
than  the  Greeks.  One  of  them  rented  a  store  on  the  main 
thoroughfare  in  Kenosha,  Wis.  The  proprietor  wanted  refer- 
ence before  he  would  lease  the  property  to  a  foreigner.  The 
Greek  said :  "  Will  this  do  ?  "  as  he  counted  out  six  months' 
rent  in  advance.  Another  Greek  in  an  industrial  town  saved 
$2000,  and  rented  a  store  for  which  he  paid  $125  a  month. 
The  fixtures,  soda  fountain,  and  stock  were  valued  at  $5000. 
He  risked  his  savings  and  launched  into  the  deep,  and  is  going 
forward  fairly  well,  working  sixteen  hours  a  day  for  seven  days  in 
the  week.  The  ability  to  save  has  characterized  immigrants 
for  the  last  hundred  years,  but  no  nation  of  the  old  immigration 
has  manifested  such  business  enterprise  as  that  shown  by  Greeks 
and  Armenians,  Syrians  and  Jews,  Italians  and  Persians.  The 
average  number  of  people  in  any  group  given  to  trade  and  com- 
merce seldom  exceeds  10  per  cent,  but  among  the  nations 
above  mentioned  it  is  from  three  to  four  times  greater.  Hun- 
dreds of  these  men  from  the  ranks  of  labor  risk  the  savings  of 
years  and  launch  upon  an  unknown  sea  ;  they  are  willing  to 
work  and  wait,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  from  among  them  in 
due  time  will  arise  men  who  will  have  a  voice  in  the  financial 
and  commercial  world  of  North  America. 

Fear  of  Socialism.  —  Everywhere  the  bugaboo  of  socialism 
is  associated  with  the  foreigner.  Operators  and  members  of  the 
leisure  class  again  and  again  say :  "  They  are  dangerous  —  they 
are  socialists  and  anarchists."  Those  who  know  the  foreigners 
also  know  that  there  is  no  cause  for  apprehension  in  this  respect, 
providing  the  door  of  opportunity  is  kept  open  to  the  alien. 
When  a  corporation  hems  in  on  all  sides  its  employees,  so  that 
they  can  call  nothing  their  own,  is  it  strange  that  the  men  talk 
and  listen  to  advocates  of  some  other  industrial  scheme  in  which 
the  individual  may  have  a  better  chance  to  come  to  possession 
of  something  else  than  moveable  chattels  ?     A  steel  company 


EFFICIENCY  AND  PROGRESS 


that  has  done  much  for  its  employees,  in  the  way  of  building 
model  houses  for  workingmen,  keeping  the  yards,  lanes,  and  streets 
clean,  caring  for  the  garbage,  fixing  a  standard  for  the  public 
school  that  is  high,  and  keeping  fatherly  watch  over  the  Ish- 
maelites  of  the  group  so  that  the  criminal  may  have  a  chance 
to  reclaim  his  good  name  —  this  company,  however,  owns  all 
the  land,  owns  every  house  in  the  place,  and  no  one  can  sell  a 
pound  of  sugar  without  its  consent.  The  natural  result  is 
that  even  families  who  have  lived  there  ten  or  more  years  say : 
"  We  go  occasionally  to  visit  our  home  and  meet  our  friends." 
All  feel  that  they  are  strangers  and  pilgrims  in  that  mill  village, 
they  take  no  root  there,  they  have  no  community  feeling,  no  love 
of  place,  for  they  have  nothing  to  which  to  attach  themselves. 
When  men  thus  situated  talk  about  socialism  and  communism, 
and  long  for  some  plan  by  which  they,  as  sons  of  earth,  may  call 
a  part  of  it  their  own,  and  have  a  voice  in  the  management  of 
the  community,  is  it  a  strange  thing?  —  are  not  their  longings 
right  and  just  ? 

Italians  are  Individualistic.  —  Whether  or  not  this  foreign- 
born  brother  is  to  be  swept  into  the  unknown  sea  of  sociahsm 
depends  largely  upon  ourselves.  I  have  heard  entrepreneurs 
talk  of  Italians  as  socialists.  There  was  never  a  greater  mis- 
conception in  the  world.  The  Italian  is  the  most  individualistic 
of  any  group  crossing  the  ocean,  and  it  will  take  a  long  time  to 
make  him  a  socialist.  Italians  have  their  socialistic  clubs  ;  but 
these  groups  are  nothing  more  than  labor  organizations  held 
together  by  common  economic  interests.  The  Italian  saves 
his  money,  puts  it  into  land  and  home,  either  here  or  in  Italy, 
raises  a  family,  and  cares  for  his  own  business ;  and  that  is  not 
socialism.  If  everywhere  in  this  land  the  native-born  and 
foreign-born  men  of  affairs  should  give  this  foreign-born  brother 
his  full  wage  and  let  him  spend  it  as  he  pleases,  give  him  also 
an  opportunity  to  invest  his  money  in  a  home  to  shelter  himself 
and  family;  give  him  a  voice  in  the  management  of  the  town 
and  the  public  school ;  and  give  him  a  larger  interest  in  the 
plant  than  the  weekly  wage  implies,  they  would  do  more  to  brush 
off  the  horizon  the  socialistic  bugaboo  than  by  hiring  a  thou- 


io6 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


sand  speakers  to  talk  it  down,  or  try  to  smother  it  under  tons  of 
anti-socialistic  pamphlets. 

Slavs  not  Socialists  in  America.  —  The  Slavs  in  America  num- 
ber about  4,000,000.    It  is  of  this  people  that  Bakounin  said : 
"  They  are  and  always  have  been  socialistic  .  .  .  because  they 
Hve  under  the  regime  of  communal  property"  ;  and  some  friends 
of  the  prince  in  this  country  have  expected  recruits  by  the  thou- 
sands from  among  these  people,  but  their  hopes  have  faded  into 
iridescent  dreams.    In  Russia,  where  commimal  property  ob- 
tains, where  a  communal  form  of  government  —  the  "  mir  "  — 
dominates  the  social  order,  and  where  the  unit  of  the  industrial 
organization  is  the  "artel  "  with  its  "starosta,"  there  the  masses, 
by  a  federation  of  communes,  may  awake  and  overthrow  oli- 
garchy and  install  a  more  democratic  government  —  perchance, 
a  kind  of  socialism ;  but  in  America  all  this  background  is 
wanting,  and  the  Slav  in  the  United  States,  to  a  remarkable 
degree,  falls  into  the  ways  of  a  social  order  that  has  its  roots 
in  individualism  —  each  man  having  the  opportunity  to  use  his 
talent  as  he  thinks  best  and  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  labor  as  he 
pleases.    The  Slavs  will  join  the  union  and  fight  for  higher 
wages  and  better  conditions,  and  in  the  conflict  the  commimal 
habit  inculcated  in  the  fatherland  welds  them  together  into  a  soli- 
darity that  is  not  known  among  Anglo-Saxons ;  they  will  follow 
a  labor  leader  with  a  devotion  that  is  reUgious;  they  have 
patience  and  can  suffer  in  the  cause  they  champion ;  but  all 
this  is  done  from  economic  motives.    The  Slav  loves  the  dollar, 
and  will  keep  it  when  the  conflict  is  over.    Let  men  try  to  lead 
him  along  the  road  of  socialism,  and  he  will  not  go  ;  his  practical 
judgment  rebels,  he  prefers  to  buy  a  lot,  build  a  house,  cultivate 
a  garden,  rejoice  in  the  presence  of  his  wife  and  children,  enjoy 
the  rights  of  property,  and  go  his  own  way.    A  Slav  in  North 
America  —  the  land  of  opportunity  —  is  a  very  different  being 
from  what  he  is  in  Russia  —  the  land  of  oppression  and  custom. 
When  a  Ruthenian  came  to  Canada  and  was  given  a  farm,  he 
fell  on  his  knees,  kissed  the  soil,  and  said,   "  Mine,  mine." 
There  are  tens  of  thousands  of  foreigners  who  own  their  own 
homes  in  America  but  possessed  nothing  in  the  fatherland ;  and 


EFFICIENCY  AND  PROGRESS 


every  time  they  repair  the  roof  or  fix  the  door,  plant  the  garden 
or  build  a  fence,  they  rejoice  in  their  possession,  and  have  joined 
the  company  of  men  who  believe  that  the  progress  of  the  world 
depends  upon  the  integrity  and  honesty,  capacity  and  thrift 
of  the  individual,  more  than  upon  an  act  of  legislation  or  upon 
the  benignant  and  paternal  promises  of  the  dreamers  of  Utopia. 
What  we  pray  for  is  that  the  leaders  in  the  industrial  and  finan- 
cial world  should  make  up  their  minds  to  laimch  a  practical 
scheme,  based  on  business  principles,  to  help  the  foreigners  to 
secure  homes  and  land  in  America. 

Operators  can  Help.  —  When  an  operator  was  approached 
upon  the  matter  of  education  for  his  foreign-speaking  em- 
ployees, so  that  they  might  be  brought  under  the  influence 
of  American  ideas  and  customs,  he  said  :  "  We  make  steel  here." 
Another  employer  met  these  advances  by  saying :  "  We  don't 
conduct  a  school  here,  it  is  a  manufacturing  plant."  The 
number  of  these  men  in  America  is  not  large  —  men  blind  both 
to  the  needs  of  their  brother  man  and  to  the  future  of  this  in- 
dustrial organization  of  ours ;  sordid  men  whose  puckered  souls 
are  dead  to  patriotic  sentiment  and  spiritual  values.  They  do 
not  represent  the  American  heart,  and  there  are  thousands  of 
employers  who  are  broader  and  larger.  This  is  one  instance 
out  of  many.  In  a  steel  plant  in  Ohio,  some  hundreds  of 
Magyars  have  worked  for  some  years.  When  first  they  came, 
they  were  undesirable  in  many  ways,  but  the  superintendent 
felt  that  it  was  his  privilege  to  give  these  men  something  more 
than  the  market  wage.  He  entered  into  their  life,  became  a 
member  of  their  lodge,  advised  them  as  to  their  investments, 
put  his  name  down  as  a  charter  member  of  their  church,  loaned 
them  money  at  a  nominal  interest,  built  them  a  hall,  called 
experts  in  to  plan  amusements,  educational  work,  and  lectures. 
This  sympathetic  and  inteUigent  agency  has  been  at  work  for 
some  years,  and  the  following  is  the  manager's  testimony : 
"  After  twelve  years'  experience  our  works  have  gathered  to- 
gether a  splendid  force  of  men.  We  started  with  a  small  read- 
ing room,  had  competent  instructors  in  Enghsh,  and  found  it 
necessary  to  build  a  larger  building.    Through  your  excellent 


io8 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


work  they  (Magyars)  have  succeeded  in  building  two  churches, 
have  a  number  of  beneficial  societies,  and  I  want  to  say  to  you 
that  they  are  better  citizens  and  better  workmen.  I  can  only 
add,  if  it  could  be  made  possible  for  every  large  factory  or  large 
concern  employing  this  class  of  labor  to  see  the  splendid  results 
which  we  have  obtained,  I  feel  sure  that  they  would  not  hesi- 
tate to  put  forth  every  effort  to  extend  the  work.  While  we 
have  expended  quite  a  large  amount  in  this  line,  we  find  that  it 
is  one  of  the  best  assets  we  have." 

These  Magyars  are  just  the  same  as  others  who  have  come  to 
us  from  Hungary ;  the  superintendent  did  nothing  exceptional 
—  he  gave  the  men  Christian  sympathy  and  practical  helpful- 
ness; the  educational  work  has  been  done  by  ordinary  men. 
Everything  done  in  the  above  instance  can  be  repeated  in  a  thou- 
sand industrial  plants  in  the  land,  if  the  managing  force  has 
the  right  point  of  view  coupled  to  wiULngness  to  spend  some 
money  to  help  men.  It  woiild  mean  in  every  community  in- 
creased efficiency  and  steady  progress.  The  employers  of 
America  have  offered  work  to  the  new  immigration,  and  have 
given  it  the  market  wage.  Do  their  obligations  cease  there? 
Is  it  too  much  to  expect  from  them  intelligent  and  sane  co- 
operation in  giving  "  Coming  Americans  "  an  opportimity  to 
come  in  touch  with  something  that  is  of  more  value  than  the 
dollar  —  our  democratic  institutions,  which  are  the  achieve- 
ments of  brave  and  benignant  ancestors,  the  star  of  hope  for 
the  civilized  world,  and  the  assurance  that  self-governing  men 
are  able  to  manage  their  affairs  without  the  intervention  of 
titled  nobility  ? 


PART  III 


COMMUNITY  CONDITIONS 
CHAPTER  VIII 

CAMP  AND  TOWN  LIFE 

Hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  of  the  new  immigration, 
employed  in  the  mining  and  lumber  industries,  in  railroad  con- 
struction, on  canals,  aqueducts,  reservoirs,  sewers,  etc.,  live 
in  camps,  which  may  be  close  to  a  town  or  city,  or  they  may 
be  several  miles  away;  in  the  former  case,  the  town  becomes 
on  pay  night  the  rendezvous  of  men  inclined  to  dissipation  and 
gambling ;  in  the  latter,  they  find  these  diversions  in  the  camp 
itself,  unless  strict  discipline  is  enforced.  The  immigrants  in 
camps,  for  the  most  part,  lead  an  isolated  life.  Removed  from 
the  diversions  found  in  cities,  living  under  special  regulations 
for  the  good  of  the  camp,  sleeping  and  eating  in  barracks  or 
shacks,  forced  to  buy  their  provisions  from  the  commissariat  or 
take  the  board  provided  for  them  by  the  company,  working 
generally  under  a  contractor  who  is  their  taskmaster,  and  often 
forced  to  submit  to  conditions  that  are  barbarous  —  these  men 
have  little  or  no  chance  to  know  what  America  is.  The  life  of 
the  average  camp  may  be  summed  up  in  work,  food,  and  sleep. 
Few  camps  have  a  place  set  apart  for  amusement,  diversion, 
or  instruction,  and  have  a  man  employed  whose  business  it  is 
to  divert  the  thoughts  of  the  employees  from  the  monotony  of 
daily  toil  to  higher  things.  The  rule  in  many  camps  is 
seven  days  of  toil ;  in  those  where  six  days  is  the  rule,  Sunday 
is  used  by  the  men  to  wash  their  clothes,  shave,  do  some 
mending,  play  cards,  and  drink. 

A  Mining  Camp.  —  The  men  of  the  new  immigration  are 

109 


no 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


found  in  the  mining  camps  of  the  Northwest.  The  Finns  and 
the  Swedes  live  in  villages  having  clean  and  well-kept  homes, 
but  the  Bulgarians  and  Croats,  the  Montenegrins  and  Serbs, 
are  in  camps  where  every  degree  of  filthiness  is  found.  The 
bimkhouse  is  made  of  wood  ;  on  the  end  is  the  kitchen,  separated 
from  the  sleeping  quarters  by  a  partition.  The  bimks  are 
generally  double-deckers,  and  between  the  two  rows  is  foimd 
the  dining  table  where  the  foreigners  eat.  Some  twenty  or 
thirty  men  occupy  one  of  these  buildings,  sometimes  run  by  a 
boarding  boss  and  his  wife,  and  sometimes  by  the  men  them- 
selves. When  a  woman  is  in  charge,  it  is  impossible  for  her  to 
keep  the  place  clean,  and  the  men  won't  do  so.  Some  companies 
appoint  an  inspector  to  see  that  the  camp  is  kept  in  a  sanitary 
condition ;  but  it  is  well-nigh  impossible  to  comply  with  the 
laws  of  sanitation  in  these  places;  and  still  in  the  Northwest 
the  filth  and  squalor  do  not  breed  disease  such  as  would  inevi- 
tably be  the  case  in  a  southern  climate.  The  only  way  sanitary 
conditions  can  be  secured  is  by  exercising,  in  the  first  place, 
greater  care  in  the  construction  of  the  camp ;  and  in  the  second, 
rigid  discipline  enforced  by  an  intelligent  inspector,  who  would 
keep  a  constant  and  sharp  eye  upon  the  occupants.  Few  em- 
ployers, however,  go  thus  far  in  the  care  exercised  over  the 
health  of  their  employees. 

A  Construction  Camp.  —  Railroad  companies  generally  pro- 
vide in  construction  camps  large  buildings  for  their  employees, 
in  which  forty  to  fifty  men  can  be  sheltered.  In  a  railroad 
camp,  not  far  from  an  eastern  city,  ninety  Austrians  were  em- 
ployed in  construction  work.  The  skilled  workers  at  the  drill, 
the  steam  shovel,  in  the  smithy  and  machine  shop,  were  EngUsh- 
speaking,  and  boarded  in  houses  about  half  a  mile  away  from 
the  scene  of  operation.  A  little  way  from  the  cutting  was  the 
main  bimkhouse,  where  forty  men  were  housed.  On  the  first 
floor  was  the  dining  room  —  not  clean  by  any  means  ;  the  long 
dining  room  table  had  much  grease  upon  it,  and  along  it  ran 
benches  on  which  the  men  sat  to  eat.  Back  of  the  dining  room 
were  two  rooms  set  apart  for  the  boarding  boss  and  his  wife. 
The  bunks,  where  the  men  slept,  were  on  the  second  floor, 


CAMP  AND  TOWN  LIFE 


III 


lining  two-deep  the  sides  of  the  building,  and  on  either  end  of 
the  passage  way  between  the  bunks  was  a  window  about 
three  by  two  feet.  The  odor  in  that  loft  was  bad,  but  what 
must  it  have  been  when  forty  men  slept  there,  and  the  windows, 
after  the  manner  of  the  southeastern  Europeans,  were  tightly 
closed  ?  The  camp  had  an  ample  supply  of  water,  but  no  pro- 
vision for  bathing.  At  the  close  of  day,  one  of  the  men  used 
the  end  of  an  empty  beer  keg  as  a  wash  basin,  while  another 
tried  to  wash  his  feet  in  a  ten-pound  lard  pail.  There  were 
several  other  buildings  in  the  camp,  some  of  them  occupied  by 
families  who  took  in  boarders.  Some  shacks  were  occupied 
by  single  men  who  waited  on  themselves.  There  was  a  commis- 
sary on  the  field;  the  supplies  for  the  camp  were  purchased 
from  a  firm  which  suppHed  all  camps  on  the  company's  system ; 
prices  and  the  quality  of  goods  sold  were  regulated  by  a  general 
agent  of  the  commissary  service  of  the  company.  Each  man 
paid  $2  a  month  for  his  berth,  coal,  and  oil.  The  men  lived  on 
the  communal  plan ;  if  the  woman  did  the  cooking  for  a  group 
of  men,  each  paid  her  $i  a  month ;  at  the  end  of  the  month  the 
total  bill  for  food  was  presented  and  each  man  paid  his  pro 
rata  share.  The  men  who  lived  in  shacks  had  their  individual 
account  with  the  store.  The  number  of  boarders  in  the  strict 
sense  of  the  word  was  small.  The  men  were  bent  on  saving, 
and  this  was  the  place  to  do  it. 

A  Lumber  Camp.  —  In  a  lumber  camp  in  New  Hampshire, 
life  was  far  more  lonesome  than  in  this  railroad  camp.  The 
men  were  ten  miles  away  from  a  small  country  village,  which 
was  the  terminus  of  the  railroad.  We  reached  camp  about 
noon  while  the  men  were  eating  their  dinner.  It  was  one  big 
family  of  strong  men  blessed  with  good  appetites.  We  were 
invited  to  sit  down  also,  and  a  tin  platter,  cup  and  spoon, 
knife  and  fork,  were  set  on  the  table  and  a  place  assigned  us  on 
the  bench.  The  table  was  clean  and  the  floor  kept  in  good  con- 
dition. The  dinner  consisted  of  potatoes,  with  their  "  jackets  " 
on,  good  bread,  beef  —  a  little  tough  —  good  coffee,  and  a  piece 
of  ginger  cake.  It  was  wholesome  food,  and  plenty  of  it.  There 
was  no  commissary  here  —  the  company  furnishing  bed  and 


112 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


board  to  its  employees  and  paying  an  average  wage  of  $25  a 
month.  The  majority  of  the  workers  were  French  Canadians, 
but  among  them  southeastern  Europeans  were  also  foimd.  The 
water  supply  was  ample,  but  here  also  no  conveniences  for  bath- 
ing were  provided.  There  were  no  women  in  this  camp.  We 
found  two  men  there  from  Boston,  who  had  escaped  from  the 
luxuries  of  city  life  to  the  mountains  to  renew  their  strength. 
All  the  force,  clerical,  skilled,  and  imskilled,  lived  in  the  camp,  so 
that  the  cultured  as  well  as  the  illiterate  had  to  rely  upon  their 
own  resources  for  diversion  and  entertainment.  There  was  no 
booze  in  the  place,  and  the  men  at  the  end  of  the  season  gen- 
erally left  camp  having  with  them  nearly  all  the  money  they 
had  earned  —  this  was  especially  true  of  the  French  Canadians, 
for  they  kept  clear  of  all  gambling. 

A  Monotonous  Life.  —  The  chief  criticism  of  these  two  camps 
is  not  of  what  they  had,  but  of  what  they  did  not  have.  Bath- 
ing facilities,  such  as  shower  baths,  would  be  of  great  value  to 
the  men ;  they  would  also  appreciate  a  room  set  apart  for  read- 
ing, writing,  and  amusement ;  whUe  an  effort  to  bring  before 
them,  in  picture  form,  lessons  from  the  great  book  of  life  would 
enrich  their  lives  and  make  them  more  useful  members  of 
society  whenever  they  returned  to  their  homes.  None  of  these 
things  were  found  there.  The  men  worked,  ate,  and  slept,  day 
in  and  day  out,  during  the  life  of  camp. 

Other  Camps.  —  Conditions  in  the  camps  on  the  Barge  Canal 
in  New  York  State  were  very  different  from  those  found  in 
railroad  and  lumber  camps.  The  Itahans  formed  the  major 
part  of  the  labor  force,  and  the  accommodations  furnished 
most  of  them  were  shameful.  We  saw  men  crawling  into  pens 
which  few  Christians  would  have  their  dogs  occupy.  The  work- 
ers improvised  a  kitchen  by  putting  a  few  boards  together,  over 
which  they  nailed  sheets  of  tin  to  guard  against  a  possible 
conflagration.  The  cooking  these  men  did  was  not  elaborate ;  it 
was  easier  and  pleasanter  to  get  a  loaf  of  bread,  a  piece  of  bologna, 
and  a  bottle  of  beer  in  the  commissary's  booth.  Few  camps 
had  a  supply  of  water  convenient  to  the  men,  and  no  provision 
was  made  for  bathing.    The  men  washed  their  hands  and  faces 


<:amp  and  town  life 


at  the  dose  of  day,  at  the  barrel  or  tank  holding  a  supply  of 
water  for  the  engine  or  drillers,  and  soon  after  supper  they 
turned  into  their  bunks.  In  many  camps  no  conveniences 
were  provided  for  the  men,  and  the  surroundings  resembled 
those  of  some  ItaUan  cities,  without  sewers  or  vaults.  In  one 
place  thirty  men  lived  in  an  abandoned  house  on  the  bank  of 
the  canal,  and  both  the  dwelling  and  the  surroundings  were 
filthy.  No  woman  was  near,  and  the  men  did  their  cooking. 
The  wonder  was  that  they  could  live  and  retain  their  health 
under  such  conditions.  In  these  camps  the  commissary  is 
supreme,  and  the  men  must  buy  from  him  if  they  wish  to  retain 
their  job.  He  has  wet  and  dry  goods  for  sale,  and  believes  in 
charging  what  the  trafl&c  will  bear.  One  of  these  parasites  col- 
lected a  fixed  charge  from  each  man  for  whom  he  found  a  job ; 
then  he  charged  each  employee  bunk  rent,  no  matter  whether  he 
occupied  it  or  not ;  and  unless  he  dealt  in  his  store  he  could  not 
long  hold  his  job.  If  any  man  believes  that  America  gets  the 
physically  degenerated  from  southeastern  Europe,  let  him  visit 
the  camps  on  the  Barge  Canal,  and  he  will  soon  be  convinced 
of  his  error.  Men  who  can  do  this  work  and  live  under  condi- 
tions of  board  and  lodging  that  are  barbarous  must  have  con- 
stitutions of  iron,  else  they  would  die  of  hectic  fever,  diarrhoea, 
or  some  loathsome  disease.  Conditions  of  this  kind  can  only 
be  duplicated  in  some  towns  in  southern  Italy  ;  and  the  padrone 
in  charge  of  such  a  wretched  camp  is  able  to  carry  on  business 
because  his  victims  are  the  sons  of  a  backward  civilization  and 
know  not  what  twentieth-century  living  is.  But  to  have 
medieval  conditions  of  filth  and  uncleanness  set  up  in  America 
is  a  thing  that  should  not  be  tolerated  for  an  hour. 

The  Boss  of  the  Camp.  —  The  success  or  failure  of  every 
effort  made  in  behalf  of  men  in  camps,  under  the  control  of  a 
commissary,  depends  on  the  disposition  of  the  man  in  charge. 
He  is  the  intermediary  between  the  contractor  and  the  men, 
he  is  responsible  for  the  men  being  there,  and  it  is  he  who  keeps 
up  the  supply  of  laborers.  His  services  are  compensated  by 
monopolistic  concessions.  He  collects  the  rent  for  the  bunks,  he 
has  full  control  of  the  supplies  of  food  and  luxuries,  nothing  can 
I 


114 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


come  into  the  camp  save  through  him,  he  knows  the  men  and 
can  converse  with  them,  his  store  is  the  rendezvous  for  the  men 
in  the  camp,  and,  there,  all  matters  of  importance  are  discussed 
and  settled.  This  man  is  jealous  of  any  outside  influence.  He 
has  fuU  control  of  the  men,  and  does  not  want  it  disturbed.  Some 
of  them  practice  crooked  ways  which  flourish  best  under  cover, 
and  no  outside  parties  may  raise  the  lid.  When  we  remonstrated 
with  one  of  these  grasping  men,  he  turned  and  said :  "  Don't 
you  Americans  do  the  same?  I  want  to  be  American." 
Most  men,  however,  in  charge  of  foreigners  in  camps  are  not 
dishonest.  They  have  their  prices,  their  rates,  and  adhere  to 
them  ;  but  their  stay  in  the  camp  depends  upon  their  ability  to 
hold  the  men,  and  they  guard  their  power  very  jealously.  It 
is  really  their  U\ing  and  their  hope  of  gain.  When  times  are  brisk 
and  industries  call  for  men,  it  is  not  easy  to  keep  up  the  comple- 
ment of  laborers  in  a  group  that  is  ever  shifting.  I  knew  one 
camp  where  the  average  stay  of  the  men  was  about  two  weeks. 
If  the  commissary-  cannot  get  the  men  and  hold  them,  his  use- 
fulness to  the  contractor  ceases.  As  long  as  he  does  this,  the 
management  gives  him  a  free  hand,  and  he  is  happiest  when 
outsiders  do  the  same. 

The  Padrone  is  Gracious.  —  The  padroni  are  ver\'  diplomatic. 
Few  of  them  are  discourteous.  They  will  graciously  hsten  to 
propositions  for  the  introduction  of  ameliorating  agencies  for 
the  men.  I  asked  one :  "  W'iU  you  let  us  bring  in  some  papers 
so  that  the  men  can  get  something  to  read?  "  "  Sure,"  was 
his  reply  ;  "  send  them  me  and  I'U  see  they  get  them."  He  got 
the  papers  and  stowed  them  away  —  he  forgot  all  about  them. 
"  Can  we  use  your  store  to  give  these  men  some  lessons  in  Eng- 
lish? "  "  Sure  "  ;  but  in  the  second  or  third  lesson  the  benches 
were  all  removed.  Of  course  we  interfered  with  his  business 
somewhat,  but  it  was  the  only  place  available  in  that  camp,  and 
we  thought  we  would  tr\'  to  do  the  work  there.  Our  effort  at 
introducing  stereopticon  lectures  and  phonographic  concerts 
has  been  met  in  the  same  way  —  apparent  willingness,  but  in 
a  quiet  way  the  man  influenced  the  workers  to  keep  away  and  to 
look  upon  our  efforts  with  suspicion.    This  has  been  our  ex- 


CAMP  AND  TOWN  LIFE 


"5 


perience  in  camps  made  up  of  Italians,  Austrians,  Slavs,  etc. 
Before  good  work  can  be  done  in  camps  of  from  60  to  200  men, 
under  the  control  of  the  commissary,  this  man  must  be  dis- 
armed of  all  suspicion,  his  good  will  must  be  enlisted,  and  a  place 
must  be  provided  where  educational  and  social  work  can  be 
carried  on.  In  lumber  camps,  which  are  generally  under  the 
direct  control  of  the  owner,  the  way  for  the  introduction  of 
ameUorating  agencies  is  much  easier.  If  he  furnishes  the  funds 
to  put  a  man  in  charge,  efficient  ser\'ice  can  be  rendered.  In 
railroad  camps  the  key  to  the  situation  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
officials.  The  power  of  the  commissary  in  charge  of  these  is 
limited,  and  whatever  order  the  railroad  company  issues  is 
promptly  obeyed.  The  influence  of  contractors  in  small  camps 
is  also  potent ;  but  these  men  seldom  interfere  between  the  pa- 
droni and  their  men.  The  average  commissary  is  very  suscep- 
tible to  pressure  from  above;  when  that  is  secured,  he  will 
support  any  work  installed  to  help  the  employees.  If  this  is 
not  secured,  the  time  and  money  spent  in  the  effort  do  not  give 
satisfactory-  results,  and  often  it  is  difficult  to  find  the  reasons 
for  failure. 

In  America,  but  not  of  It.  —  No  statistics  are  available  of 
the  total  number  of  men  employed  in  camps ;  but  it  is  safe  to 
put  it  at  half  a  million,  and  it  may  be  considerably  more.  Half 
a  million  foreigners  in  America,  but  not  of  America.  They  are 
removed  from  all  agencies  that  mold  and  shape  "  coming 
Americans  "  in  cities  and  towns ;  they  are  deprived  of  the  refining 
influences  of  women  and  the  soothing  touch  of  childhood ;  camp 
life  is  an  unnatural  life,  and  in  it  the  coarse,  vulgar  elements  of 
human  nature  come  to  the  fore ;  the  indecent  story,  the  \-ulgar 
joke,  and  the  immoral  picture  are  introduced  and  passed 
around.  If  intoxicants  are  within  reach,  the  men  will  drink 
and  gamble.  They  are  the  only  diversions  the  men  have. 
Into  camps  far  removed  from  cities,  demijohns  are  occasionally 
brought  and  a  happy  evening  spent.  Generally  the  monotony 
is  oppressive ;  with  no  literature,  no  pictures  of  the  right  sort, 
no  systematic  and  earnest  effort  made  to  bring  these  thousands 
to  a  knowledge  of  the  language  of  the  country,  of  the  things 


ii6 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


America  stands  for,  of  the  achievement  of  free  men  in  self- 
government  and  industrial  development,  and  of  spiritual 
realities  which  have  played  so  important  a  part  in  the  history 
of  the  Union,  how  can  it  be  otherwise?  When  the  foreigners 
came  to  America  they  saw  Bartholdi's  statue  on  Staten  Island ; 
its  meaning  was  possibly  explained  to  them ;  and  they  were 
sent  to  camp  where  no  ray  of  Ught  reached  them.  America, 
if  true  to  that  symbol,  should  bring  the  Ught  of  its  laws  and 
its  constitution  to  bear  upon  every  man  who  comes  here  from 
the  backward  coimtries  of  southeastern  Europe.  This  will  only 
be  done  when  camps  are  constructed  according  to  sanitary 
principles  and  regulated  by  men  versed  in  the  laws  of  hygiene ; 
instruction,  amusement,  and  diversion  need  intelligent  direc- 
tion, and  above  all  do  the  employees  need  the  personal  touch 
of  a  man  of  strong  character  and  high  ideals.  The  step  taken 
in  this  direction  by  the  city  of  New  York,  in  camps  on  the  Aque- 
duct, is  in  the  right  direction. 

Foreigners  in  Small  Towns.  —  The  new  immigrants  fovmd  in 
the  mining  industry  generally  live  in  small  towns.  Of  the  600,- 
000  so  employed,  70  per  cent  Uve  in  towns  of  less  than  5000 
population.  Beside  these  small  mining  towns,  hundreds  of 
small  communities  have,  in  recent  years,  grown  aroimd  indus- 
trial plants  transferred  from  large  cities,  and  with  the  plant 
the  foreigners  also  moved.  Around  Pittsburgh,  Buffalo,  Chi- 
cago, St.  Louis,  etc.,  many  such  plants  are  found.  They  have 
been  well  called  "  satellite  cities,"  for  industrially  they  have  to 
depend  upon  the  parent  city.  Besides  these  there  are  paper 
plants,  quarries,  brickyards,  textile  mills  near  available  water- 
falls, chemical  works,  tanneries,  etc.,  found  in  many  small 
communities,  and  foreigners  have  been  attracted  to  them.  The 
character  of  these  towns  depends  upon  three  main  factors : 
the  character  of  the  company  that  runs  the  plant ;  the  nature 
of  the  industry;  and  the  quality  of  men  the  industry  attracts. 
In  a  small  town  in  Wisconsin,  made  up  largely  of  Finns,  one  of 
their  number  had  built  a  Russian  bathhouse  in  the  rear  of  his 
dwelling,  for  the  use  of  his  countrymen.  This  man  also  organ- 
ized a  temperance  society,  which  met  every  Sunday  evening  for 


CAMP  AND  TOWN  LIFE 


117 


culture  and  some  kind  of  entertainment.  The  gardens  of  the 
town  were  well  taken  care  of  and  the  houses  kept  clean.  The 
community  had  a  character  and  a  tone  that  guaranteed  prog- 
ress in  decency  and  self-respect,  and  it  was  largely  due  to  the 
initiative  of  the  men  themselves.  In  another  town  about 
equal  in  size,  made  up  largely  of  Slavs,  everything  indicated  a 
moral  breakdown.  The  streets  and  alleys  were  dirty  —  empty 
beer  kegs,  old  tin  cans,  ashes,  refuse  of  every  character,  were 
thrown  anywhere.  The  houses  were  dilapidated  and  dirty. 
There  was  no  provision  there  to  bathe  and  no  appreciation  of 
culture.  A  general  moral  laxity  —  men  and  women  soaked 
in  beer  and  profanity,  drifting  into  degradation  and  dragging 
their  sons  and  daughters  with  them.  The  Finns  had  character 
—  these  none. 

Bad  Example  Set.  —  In  a  mining  town  in  IlHnois,  largely 
made  up  of  foreigners,  but  with  some  families  of  English-speaking 
persons  of  the  worse  sort,  the  operators,  conscious  of  their 
responsibility  for  the  intellectual  and  moral  condition  of  their 
employees,  engaged  a  young  man  to  do  social  work  in  the  vil- 
lage. His  efforts  were  very  successful  for  the  first  year,  at  the 
close  of  which  he  married  and  brought  his  young  wife  back  to 
the  mine  patch.  That  night,  the  EngUsh-speaking  men  sur- 
rounded his  house  and  demanded  beer  money,  in  order  to  cele- 
brate his  wedding.  The  young  man  refused  to  give  them  any, 
saying :  "  It  won't  do  you  any  good."  They  became  ugly  and 
began  to  throw  stones,  breaking  windows,  etc.  The  young  wife 
in  terror  fled  through  the  garden,  and  it  was  only  when  the  Ital- 
ian constable  came  on  the  scene  that  order  was  restored.  The 
foreigners  would  never  have  acted  thus ;  but  what  was  the 
influence  of  such  conduct  on  the  part  of  English-speaking  men 
who,  to  the  immigrants,  represented  America?  In  every  com- 
munity where  foreigners  live  there  are  found  English-speaking 
men  who  have  lost  all  moral  fiber  and  live  on  a  low  plane  to 
which,  unfortunately,  foreigners  descend.  Their  example  de- 
grades the  simple,  receptive  immigrant,  who  also  becomes 
profane  and  dissipated  and  thinks  he  is  being  Americanized. 
Wherever  this  process  of  degeneracy  goes  on,  the  standard  of 


Il8  THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 

morality  is  low.  In  one  of  these  towns,  where  low  English- 
speaking  persons  lived  with  foreigners,  the  doctor,  speaking  of 
the  character  of  the  young  people,  said :  "  There  is  no  virtue 
in  this  place."  That  might  have  been  too  sweeping  a  statement ; 
but  the  moral  tone  of  small  industrial  towns  where  the  foreign- 
born  mix  is  generally  low. 

Drink  the  Prime  Cause.  —  The  prime  cause  of  this  moral 
degradation  is  drink.  In  their  cups,  men  forget  that  they  are 
fathers,  and  do  abominable  things  which  blast  every  hope  of 
virtue  that  might  grow  in  the  lives  of  their  children.  The  de- 
cent, respectable  folk  desert  a  town  where  drunkenness  and  pro- 
fanity abound.  They  flee  as  if  from  Sodom,  and  teU  their 
children  to  keep  out  of  "  Uttle  hell."  While  visiting  one  of 
these  disreputable  communities,  I  called  on  an  American  lady, 
who  was  the  last  of  the  self-respecting  group  that  once  lived 
in  the  village.  She  lived  on  the  outskirts  of  the  community. 
A  wedding  was  then  in  progress  and  many  of  the  foreigners 
were  drunk ;  the  noise  of  revelry  drowned  the  tones  of  the 
stringed  instruments  that  furnished  music  for  the  dance;  the 
festivities  continued  for  three  days  —  Saturday,  Sunday,  and 
Monday.  This  became  the  topic  of  conversation,  and  the  lady 
said :  "  I  must  get  out  —  I  can't  stand  it  —  it's  awful."  I 
said,  "  Is  there  anything,  Mrs.  Richards,  we  can  do  for  these 
people?  "  She  looked  at  me,  and  said,  "  You  don't  think  they 
have  souls,  do  you?  No,  they  are  beasts,  and  in  their  lust 
they'll  perish."  She  moved  out,  and  the  last  example  of  de- 
cency, cleanUness,  and  godliness  left  that  town.  The  drink 
evil  in  towns  where  new  immigrants  Uve  works  havoc.  There 
are  towns  where  the  operators  have  shut  out  the  saloon,  but 
no  sooner  is  that  done  than  the  "  blind  pig,"  "  bHnd  tiger,"  or 
"  speak-easy  "  takes  its  place.  When  ten  or  twenty  boarders  Uve 
in  a  house,  it  is  pretty  hard  to  draw  the  line  of  demarcation 
between  lawful  and  imlawful  use  of  the  beer  keg  dehvered  to 
that  dwelling.  It  is  not  only  in  mining  towns  that  this  evil 
prevails,  but  also  in  new  industrial  centers,  such  as  Gary,  MoUne, 
Granite  City,  Madison,  East  St.  Louis,  etc.  In  one  of  these 
towns  a  foreigner  told  me  :  "  There,  two  men  were  killed  in  a 


CAMP  AND  TOWN  LIFE 


119 


drunken  brawl ;  there,  a  man  was  robbed  last  week ;  there, 
a  shooting  fray  over  a  woman  happened  last  month ;  there  is 
a  bawdy  house  and  a  block  away  is  another,"  etc.  These  evils 
are  found  where  foreigners  live.  White  and  black  vampires 
gather  in  centers  where  these  innocent  people  settle,  and  carry 
on  a  nefarious  trade  that  must  have  heralded  the  doom  of 
Gomorrah;  the  decent  people  live  on  Quality  Row,  where  the 
saloon  is  tabooed  and  the  bawdy  house  carefully  watched. 
But  why  should  we,  in  this  Christian  country,  allow  these 
commissaries  of  Hades  to  fasten  on  the  foreign  colony  and  de- 
stroy the  material  that  has  so  much  promise  for  "  coming 
Americans  "  ?  ^ 

Good  Men  should  Lead.  —  The  absence  of  good  men,  as  much 
as  any  other  cause,  accounts  for  this  drifting  of  so  many  foreigners 
to  dissipation.  If  there  were  ten  righteous  men  in  most  of  these 
villages,  they  could  be  saved.  All  the  foreign-speaking  men  in 
a  village  are  not  given  to  drink.  Thirty  per  cent  are  given 
to  booze ;  but  we  generalize  and  say  "  all  gone  to  the  devil." 
It  is  not  so.  The  trouble  is  the  absence  of  good  and  exemplary 
men  and  the  presence  of  so-called  "  Americans  "  who  are  shift- 
less and  thriftless  and  dissipated.  Given  a  dozen  English- 
speaking  people  who  are  virtuous  and  law-abiding,  and  around 
this  nucleus  the  foreigners,  disposed  to  decency  and  sobriety, 
could  rally,  providing  the  "  Americans  "  have  sympathy  with 
the  immigrant  and  treat  him  as  a  brother.  /  In  Rockland 
County,  N.Y.,  a  foundry,  employing  from  eighty  to  ninety 
Poles,  is  the  economic  basis  of  a  flourishing  town.  Some  of 
the  company  owning  that  plant  live  on  the  field,  and  they  are 
interested  in  the  well-being  of  the  workmen.  The  houses 
where  the  men  live  are  kept  in  repair,  each  family  has  a  garden, 
and  the  superintendent  gives  several  small  prizes  every  year 
to  the  family  having  the  best  garden,  or  the  best  yard,  or  the 

'In  Lackawanna  City,  near  Buffalo,  there  are  128  saloons  in  a  population  of 
15,000.  The  municipality  comprises  five  distinct  centers :  the  Old  and  New 
Villages  built  by  the  Lackawanna  Steel  Co.  ;  Rowland,  the  business  section,  and 
the  boarding  house  section.  In  this  last  live  the  foreigners,  forming  possibly  a 
fourth  of  the  population,  but  among  them  are  found  117  out  of  the  128  licenses. 


I20 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


best  flowers.  It  does  not  cost  much,  but  its  effect  is  wonder- 
ful. One  of  the  families  put  up  a  library  in  memory  of  a  son 
who  died  on  the  threshold  of  manhood  —  a  neat,  clean,  well- 
furnished  building  —  too  good  for  the  foreigners  ?  No,  the 
company  does  not  think  so,  for  the  foreigners  use  it.  The  Poles 
come  there  to  smoke,  to  read,  to  wash,  to  amuse  themselves, 
to  learn  English  and  something  about  American  ideals,  cus- 
toms, and  institutions.  I  was  invited  to  address  this  body  of 
men,  and  seventy  came  together  —  a  finer  group  of  working  men 
could  not  be  found  anywhere.  They  were  clean,  decently  dressed, 
clear-skinned,  and  all  in  the  pink  of  condition.  In  that  meeting 
also  were  the  superintendent  of  the  shop  and  one  of  the  chief 
stockholders  of  the  company.  As  the  men  fiJed  out,  they  re- 
spectfully bowed  to  these  men,  and  their  greeting  was  returned 
with  a  pleasant  smile.  After  the  meeting  we  spoke  to  these 
men,  who  showed  their  faith  in  and  appreciation  of  the  foreigners, 
in  such  terms  as  "  Fine  fellows,"  "  We  have  no  trouble,"  "  We 
like  the  Poles  very  much,"  "  They  appreciate  all  we  do  and  they 
deserve  it."  I  mentioned  this  to  another  firm  not  very  far 
away  from  that  plant,  but  this  superintendent  said :  "  Yes, 
but  that  company  has  a  better  group  of  Poles  than  we  have  — 
these  men  are  no  good."  Some  Americans  are  no  good  at  get- 
ting out  the  best  that  is  in  a  man.  /Never  has  the  law  "  to  him 
that  hath  shall  be  given  "  been  better  exempUfied  than  in 
the  treatment  afforded  the  foreigner.  Dogs  respond  to  kind- 
ness and  sympathy,  and  so  will  every  class  of  foreigners  in  the 
land.  Ameliorating  work  needs  careful  planning,  the  expen- 
diture of  money,  and  intelligent  lo\dng-kindness  and  super- 
vision. Hard  blows  never  called  out  the  angel  from  the  rock, 
and  no  more  will  curses,  curtness,  and  cruelty  call  out  the  angel 
in  the  soul  of  the  foreigners.  If  entrepreneurs  beHeve  in  the 
Slav  and  the  Italian,  the  Lithuanian  and  the  Magyar,  the  Greek 
and  the  Albanian,  and  give  them  the  sympathetic  hand,  as  well 
as  appUances  for  and  opportunities  of  self -improvement,  prom- 
ising future  citizens  will  rise  in  plenty  in  oiu"  small  tO'KTis. 

Schools  in  Small  Towns.  —  The  women  and  children  in  small 
communities  demand  consideration.    The  average  school  in  the 


CAMP  AND  TOWN  LIFE 


121 


mining  village  or  camp  is  poor.  The  school  is  not  in  session 
more  than  five  or  six  months,  and  the  quality  of  the  teaching 
done  is  inferior.  The  trouble  sometimes  is  with  the  county 
school  directors,  and  sometimes  with  the  company,  which  is 
too  niggardly  to  grant  the  necessary  appropriation  to  carry  on 
the  work.  It  is  also  true  that  the  school  laws  are  not  observed  in 
small  towns,  for  there  is  no  one  to  compel  the  children  to  attend. 
The  foreign-speaking  mother,  burdened  with  many  children 
and  the  care  of  the  home,  is  liable  to  keep  the  girl  of  ten  home  to 
help  her ;  and  the  father,  anxious  to  get  the  help  of  the  boy,  will 
start  him  to  work  as  early  as  possible,  and  there  is  no  one  to  check 
these  wrongs  to  the  growing  child.  These  conditions  work 
much  mischief.  Many  children  of  foreign-born  parents  in 
small  towns  profit  little  by  an  institution  which  is  the  boast  of 
every  true  American.  A  foreman  in  one  of  these  mining  towns 
told  me :  "  Lydia  does  not  learn  anything  in  school  —  I'll 
send  her  to  town."  But  there  were  forty  families  of  foreigners 
in  that  village  who  did  not  know  enough  to  know  that  their 
children  did  not  learn  anything,  and  who  could  not  send  their 
children  to  town  to  school.  How  much  better  would  it  be,  to 
awaken  public  sentiment  in  that  village,  remove  the  inefficient 
teacher,  and  bring  about  better  conditions  for  the  wards  of  the 
State  ?  Unfortunately,  nepotism  too  often  controls  the  appoint- 
ment of  teachers,  and  the  game  of  politics  is  played  in  small 
towns  as  insidiously  as  in  the  other  parts  of  the  country. 

The  Mother  needs  Help.  —  The  life  of  the  foreign  mother  in 
small  towns  is  hard  and  dreary.  The  home  has  many  births 
and  many  deaths.  The  burdens  these  mothers  carry  are  very 
heavy,  and  there  are  none  to  help.  It  requires  an  intelligence 
beyond  what  these  women  possess  to  understand  how  to  adjust 
life  in  a  new  environment,  so  that  the  children  may  live  and  not 
die.  Foreign  women  are  hard  workers,  but  they  are  just  as 
meek  and  submissive  in  the  home  as  the  men  are  at  work. 
Many  of  them  are  clean,  some  of  them  are  dirty.  It  depends 
largely  upon  the  nationality.  What  this  foreign-born  sister 
needs  is  example  and  sympathy  —  some  one  who  will  kindly 
take  her  by  the  hand  as  a  sister  and  lead  her  to  the  better  way 


122 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


of  happiness,  health,  and  comfort.  One  woman,  with  goodness, 
sympathy,  and  common  sense  can  do  much  in  this  respect. 
I  know  such  a  one,  who  has  some  knowledge  of  medicine  and  who 
is  a  guarding  angel  to  many  foreign  homes.  She  is  not  afraid 
of  dirt  or  vermin,  and  for  years  she  has  carried  on  as  vahant  a 
fight  for  cleanliness  and  health  as  ever  knight  did  in  days  of 
old.  Some  foreign  mothers  protest  against  all  she  does  by 
saying,  "  Some  good  in  vermin."  But  her  sweetness  wins  out, 
the  parasites  go,  and  the  children  improve  in  health.  Her 
worst  enemies  are  superstition  and  ignorance,  but  she  is  patient 
and  brave.  She  teaches  the  mothers  that  pickles,  bananas, 
beer,  and  whisky  are  bad  for  the  children ;  and  that  milk, 
bread,  and  fruit  are  food  for  them ;  and  the  number  who  come 
to  believe  this  grows  larger  each  year.  The  foreign-bom 
mothers  come  to  her  meetings,  washed,  and  with  a  conscious 
effort  at  neatness.  The  homes  grow  bright  and  a  little  more 
cheerful  under  her  touch,  and  the  burdens  grow  lighter.  That 
woman  has  a  ray  of  sunshine  in  her  life  which  no-  obstacles  and 
difficulties  can  drive  away ;  she  beheves  in  the  foreigners,  and 
her  encouraging  smile  and  word  transmit  her  own  joy  and  cour- 
age to  scores  of  mothers  who  knew  nothing  but  drudgery  and 
dreariness  before  she  touched  them. 

Organize  Good  Women.  —  There  are  thousands  of  such 
women  in  America.  Many  of  them  find  their  way  to  foreign 
shores  and  shed  the  radiance  of  their  Uves  in  loving  sacrifice 
for  women  steeped  in  superstition  and  ignorance  in  heathen 
lands.  But  they  don't  aU  go  abroad ;  there  are  hundreds  here 
in  every  city,  who,  if  once  organized  for  service,  would  redeem 
every  foreign-bom  sister  in  America,  bearing  the  load  of  super- 
stition and  ignorance  bequeathed  her  by  the  backward  coun- 
tries of  Europe.  Hitherto,  a  few  here  and  there  have  seen  the 
opportxmity  for  service ;  we  look  forward  to  the  day  when 
the  best  women  of  the  land  will  hear  the  caU  and  respond  in  the 
name  of  our  country,  humanity,  and  our  God.  In  this  work  for 
the  home,  as  in  that  for  the  camp,  the  factors  that  count  for 
most  are  sympathetic  interest  and  self-denial.  Devout  women, 
consecrated  to  this  work,  would  not  only  influence  the  foreign- 


CAMP  AND  TOWN  LIFE 


123 


speaking  mother  and  wife  in  America,  but  also  those  in  Europe, 
and  speed  on  the  coming  of  a  better  day  for  the  nations  that 
now  lie  in  darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death. 

Small  Towns  Remembered.  —  Americans,  discussing  the 
needs  of  the  new  immigration,  pay  particular  attention  to  the 
cities  and  their  foreign  colonies.  The  foreigners  in  camps  and 
small  towns  are  seldom  mentioned.  These  men  demand  at- 
tention if  the  work  of  assimilation  is  to  be  effective.  Men  of 
the  old  immigration  have,  in  some  instances,  been  left  to  them- 
selves in  isolated  communities.  Where  this  was  done  stagna- 
tion followed,  and  to-day  we  witness  a  bit  of  eighteenth-cen- 
tury civilization  in  the  twentieth.  We  cannot  afford  to  do 
this  with  the  men  of  the  new  immigration.  They  are  more 
backward  than  races  that  came  to  us  fifty  years  ago,  and  the 
hope  of  their  redemption  lies  in  contact  with  the  best  types 
of  Americans  of  both  sexes.  It  is  important  to  touch  the  men, 
the  producers,  but  it  is  equally  important  to  touch  the  home  and 
bring  the  family  within  sight  of  the  standard  of  the  American 
home.  This  can  only  be  done  by  organized  effort,  personal 
consecration,  and  funds.  Before  these  agencies  the  bad  in  camp 
and  small  towns  would  soon  give  way  to  the  good,  and  if  drink 
and  profanity,  gambling  and  lewdness  cannot  be  stamped  out, 
they  will  be  driven  to  hiding  and  the  rising  generation  brought 
face  to  face  with  the  better  and  sweeter  side  of  life. 


CHAPTER  IX 


HOUSING  CONDITIONS 

In  one  of  the  lumber  camps  the  following  notice  was  posted : 
"  This  is  your  home  whUe  you  are  here,  treat  it  as  such." 
The  men  were  housed  in  the  barracks,  but  there  was  nothing 
there  to  suggest  home.  The  shelter  given  the  men  in  a  camp 
may  be  an  old  car,  or  a  large  building,  or  shacks,  or  individual 
pens ;  but  whatever  it  be,  it  is  their  house ;  the  men  themselves 
keep  it  clean  and  supply  whatever  comfort  they  wish  to  enjoy. 
I  saw  a  bunk  in  a  lumber  camp,  covered  with  pictures  from  the 
Police  Gazette  and  other  Like  sources.  It  was  an  effort  on  the 
part  of  the  man  to  decorate  his  home  and  make  it  a  Little  more 
attractive.  In  a  camp  near  Detroit,  an  old  car  was  used  as  a 
house  for  a  gang  of  foreigners  ;  no  pictiu-e  was  in  it.  The  men 
did  all  the  cleaning,  the  cooking,  and  the  washing,  and  the  con- 
dition of  the  house  was  not  at  all  inviting.  One  of  the  best 
samples  of  housekeeping  I  have  ever  seen  was  done  by  the  140 
Japanese  who  lived  in  the  House  of  the  Good  Shepherd  in 
South  Omaha.  A  board  of  managers  had  charge  of  the  affairs 
of  the  group.  The  secretary  of  the  board  kept  aU  records, 
accoimts,  and  transacted  all  business  with  outsiders;  the  com- 
missary had  charge  of  the  feeding  of  the  group ;  the  cooking, 
washing,  and  scrubbing  were  systematized ;  and  each  member 
was  bound  by  a  set  of  rules  that  secured  peace  and  order.  The 
men  were  constantly  changing,  some  going  and  others  coming  ; 
but  the  total  number  in  the  colony  remained  about  the  same. 
Whatever  differences  and  difficulties  arose,  they  were  settled 
within  the  group.  If  any  member  got  into  trouble,  the  colony 
was  back  of  him  to  the  fullest  extent.  It  was  the  most  perfect 
organization  on  the  communal  basis  I  have  seen,  and,  as  far  as 
I  know,  nothing  like  it  is  foimd  in  America  among  the  peoples 
of  southeastern  Europe. 

124 


HOUSING  CONDITIONS 


125 


How  Single  Men  Live.  —  The  negroes  from  the  South,  mi- 
grating to  the  brick  yards  on  the  Hudson,  manage  their  house- 
keeping in  a  fairly  systematic  way.  The  barracks  in  which 
they  bunk  are  placed  at  their  service  by  the  proprietor  of  the 
brickyard.  In  one  of  these  fifty  men  were  sheltered.  They 
lived  a  communal  life.  A  man  and  a  helper  were  assigned 
to  do  the  cooking,  their  wages  with  their  keep  being  part  of 
the  contract.  One  of  the  members  did  the  bu)ang.  The  total 
cost  was  summed  up  at  the  end  of  every  two  weeks  and  divided 
according  to  the  number  of  men  in  the  group.  In  this  way 
each  man  was  able  to  Uve  for  from  $2  to  $2.50  a  week.  In 
Sparrows  Point,  near  Baltimore,  the  company  built  shacks  to 
house  single  men,  both  foreign-speaking  and  colored.  In  each 
shack  four  men  were  accommodated  —  four  bunks,  two  on 
either  side,  set  one  above  the  other.  A  Uttle  stove  was  a  part 
of  the  outfit,  a  bench,  a  few  necessary  utensUs,  and  on  the  side 
opposite  the  door  was  a  window,  for  purposes  of  ventilation. 
Some  of  the  men  cooked  their  meals,  did  their  washing,  and  kept 
the  shack  clean.  Others  boarded  in  a  house  run  by  a  colored 
family  to  accommodate  the  men.  The  real  estate  agent  said 
that  it  kept  him  busy  watching  the  foreigners  in  the  shacks : 
they  would  break  the  bunks  into  kindling  wood,  put  the  mattress 
on  the  floor,  and  sleep  in  peace.  In  one  of  the  camps  on  the 
Barge  Canal,  the  men  went  on  strike  for  the  reason  that  they 
were  charged  bunk  rent  when  they  slept  elsewhere.  In  Rock- 
land Lake  quarry,  single  men  are  given  a  house  which  they  are 
expected  to  keep  clean  —  each  man  his  own  corner.  Single  men 
do  their  own  cooking,  but  few  of  them  exercise  that  art  to  any 
great  extent,  for  they  Uve  chiefly  on  canned  goods.  Men  at  the 
close  of  day  make  their  evening  meal  on  bread,  bologna,  and 
a  bottle  of  beer.  The  washing  and  mending,  in  these  houses, 
were  done  by  the  men  themselves.  When  Miss  Sarah  W.  Moore 
taught  English  to  some  ItaUans  in  Ashokan  Dam,  a  part  of  the 
lesson  was  practice  in  conversation,  so  she  asked  them, "  What 
do  you  do  in  the  morning"  —  "Awake,  dress,  wash,  etc.?" 
but  one  of  the  pupils  repHed,  "  Sew  me  pants."  That  is  a 
necessity,  and  many  men  do  it  as  deftly  as  the  average  housewife. 


126 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


In  the  camp  of  the  Delaware  Breakwater  Co.,  near  Wilming- 
ton, Del.,  the  evening  meal  of  the  Slavs  was  a  loaf  of  bread, 
a  can  of  sardines,  and  a  bottle  of  beer.  They  opened  the  loaf, 
poured  on  it  the  contents  of  the  can,  and  ate  the  combination 
with  relish,  washing  it  down  with  lager. 

Men  Bent  on  Saving.  —  The  question  of  housing  and  house- 
keeping in  camps  is  reduced  to  the  simplest  form  in  himdreds 
of  instances.  Thousands  of  foreigners  do  this  voluntarily,  for 
they  are  anxious  to  cut  down  their  expenses  to  the  minimum. 
Men  who  earn  less  than  $400  a  year  must  practice  rigid  economy 
in  camp,  if  they  wish  to  save  any  part  of  their  income.  It 
does  not  require  much  of  an  effort  for  single  men  to  get  through 
that  amount  in  a  year.  Many  of  them  also  regard  this  kind  of 
life  as  a  makeshift  from  which  they  hope  to  escape  as  soon  as 
possible.  Thousands  of  immigrants  look  upon  camp  life  as  a 
necessary  sacrifice  for  wife  and  children,  and  the  economy  they 
practice  is  for  their  sake.  It  is  not  home,  and  never  will  be  in 
any  sense  of  the  word.  Many  English-speaking  men  in  the  moxm- 
tains  of  Colorado  or  in  the  Cordilleras  Uve  in  camps,  doing  their 
own  cooking  and  mending,  but  it  is  done  for  a  purpose;  is 
this  not  the  case  with  the  vast  army  of  the  men  of  the  new  immi- 
gration in  camps  in  America?"/  In  every  camp  economic  forces 
are  at  play.  The  commissary  wants  to  make  as  much  as  he  can 
by  housing  and  selling  provisions  to  the  workers ;  the  men  want 
to  save  as  much  as  they  can  by  buying  and  paying  out  as  little 
as  possible ;  the  interests  of  both  parties  conflict.  The  padrone 
we  censure,  but  when  he  has  to  deal  with  men  who  cut  down 
their  living  to  ten  or  fifteen  cents  a  day,  and  use  his  store  as 
their  dining  hall,  his  profit  on  feeding  them  is  not  very  large. 
The  spirit  that  rules  the  camp  is  mercenary.  Every  one  there 
wants  to  make  as  much  as  possible.  You  cannot  legislate  this 
spirit  out  of  men,  and  from  it  comes  nine-tenths  of  all  the  ills 
of  camp  life.  Pass  laws  in  every  state  in  the  Union  regulating 
housing  accommodations  in  camps,  the  kind  of  building  to  be 
used,  air  space  per  man,  sanitary  regulations  as  to  waste,  water 
supply,  etc.  ;  if  the  men  of  the  camp  and  the  contractors  are  not 
disposed  to  live  as  human  beings  ought  to  hve,  the  letter  of  the 


HOUSING  CONDITIONS 


127 


law  will  be  complied  with,  but  the  camp  will  still  be  infectious. 
Police  power,  in  order  to  be  efficacious,  must  be  in  the  hands  of 
intelligent,  sympathetic,  and  honest  men.  The  salvation  of 
housing  conditions  in  camps  is  not  to  come  from  the  politicians, 
but  from  scientific  men.  The  lives  of  the  men  will  not  be  en- 
riched and  made  normal  unless  the  expert  leader,  from  philan- 
thropic and  humanitarian  motives,  gets  to  work  to  do  for  these 
men  in  a  social  and  moral  way  what  the  companies  are  trying 
to  do  with  the  rock,  the  dirt,  etc.,  —  bring  order  out  of  chaos 
that  human  happiness  may  be  enhanced.  The  immigrants 
have  never  learned  how  to  live,  and  they  must  be  taught  before 
the  homes  of  these  men  in  isolated  places  will  be  fit  to  live  in. 

City  Quarters  for  Foreigners.  —  Housing  conditions  in  towns 
and  cities  differ  greatly  from  those  found  in  camps,  for  in  the 
former  the  dwelling  is  in  the  hands  of  the  boarding  boss  and  his 
wife ;  in  the  latter,  the  men  wait  on  themselves.  The  legisla- 
tors of  New  York  State,  in  1857,  passed  a  law,  the  purpose  of 
which  was  "  to  prevent  drunkenness,"  and  in  order  to  accomplish 
this  the  order  was  issued  to  "  provide  every  man  with  a  clean 
and  comfortable  home."  Of  course,  it  did  not  say  who  was  to 
provide  this.  But  suppose  the  state  and  city  of  New  York 
had  enforced  that  law  in  every  camp,  what  blessings  would 
have  been  conferred  upon  the  foreigners  !  If  this  were  the  rule 
of  action  in  the  housing  of  immigrants  in  our  cities,  they  would 
have  been  healthier  and  better.  We  have  been  taught  that 
"  no  person  should  be  allowed  to  live  in  a  dwelling  that  is  damp, 
dark  and  not  ventilated,  because  these  breed  diseases  and  this 
is  bad  for  the  community  " ;  and  yet  there  are  thousands  of 
foreigners  living  in  dwellings  that  are  all  this  and  more ;  what 
hope  is  there  for  "  coming  Americans  "  imder  such  conditions? 
"^In  large  cities,  the  old  sections  which  were  built  two  or  three 
generations  ago,  when  sanitary  regulations  were  little  thought 
of,  are  to-day  inhabited  by  foreigners.  In  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore,  the  sections  having  surface  drainage  and  where 
disagreeable  odors  are  common  all  the  year  round,  are  inhabited 
by  foreigners.  Wherever  cheap  rents  are  found,  there  the  immi- 
grants live ;  this  desire  for  low  rent  often  brings  them  into  the 


128 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


redlight  districts,  where  the  temptations  are  many  and  the 
standards  are  low.  In  Kansas  City,  the  Greek  colony  is  in 
the  very  heart  of  the  worst  section  of  the  city.  In  Pittsburgh, 
the  section  where  the  demimondes  cluster  is  the  place  where  the 
Syrians  and  Italians,  Jews  and  negroes  live.  In  many  other 
cities  the  same  is  true,  and  the  reason  for  it  is  the  low  rents 
common  in  a  section  that  is  struck  with  moral  leprosy.  Low 
rents  mean  low  standards  all  around.  The  Italian  colony  and 
that  of  the  negro,  in  city  after  city,  are  adjoining  —  it  is 
bad  for  both  peoples.  In  Chicago,  there  is  a  colony  of  Per- 
sians in  the  very  heart  of  the  worse  plague  spot  in  the  city,  and 
many  of  these  young  men  have  gone,  and  others  are  going,  to  the 
devil.  If  men  who  say  that  we  get  the  dregs  of  Europe  in  the 
new  immigration  were  to  consider  how  we  consign  them  to  the 
dregs  of  our  population  in  large  cities,  they  would  revise  their 
judgment.  The  simple,  strong,  innocent  country  lad,  placed 
in  a  neighborhood  that  is  fouled  by  the  breath  of  lust  and  lech- 
ery, will  not  long  retain  his  innocency  and  strength.  / 

Greedy  Landlords.  —  Back  of  these  habitations  that  are  not 
fit  for  men  to  live  in  is  the  greed  of  the  landlord.  He  wants  to 
make  all  he  can  out  of  his  property,  and  into  it  he  packs  the  for- 
eigners, who  pay  a  higher  rent  for  the  space  they  occupy  than  is 
paid  by  respectable  citizens  in  decent  portions  of  the  city  ;  and 
this  rent  generally  goes  into  the  pockets  of  the  native-born. 
~-|-.The  foreigners  pay  a  higher  rent  per  room  than  do  native-born, 
and  this  drives  them  to  crowding  to  reduce  the  rent  per  roomer. 
Hence  we  have  33  per  cent  of  the  Bulgarian  households  studied 
by  the  Immigration  Commission  using  all  rooms  for  sleeping 
purposes.  The  Roumanians  and  Servians  had  more  than  nine 
persons  to  the  household,  while  the  Turks  and  the  Croats  were 
close  seconds.  These  new  immigrants  were  men  huddled  to- 
gether ;  they  did  not  object,  for  they  wanted  cheap  rent,  and  the 
landlord  did  not  object  as  long  as  he  got  high  rent ;  between 
both  forces  housing  conditions  prevail  in  the  twentieth  century 
that  are  barbarous.  The  foreigners,  living  in  the  oldest  and 
most  dissipated  part  of  town,  also  occupy  houses  that  are  di- 
lapidated and  rickety,  wholly  unsuitable  for  human  habitation. 


HOUSING  CONDITIONS 


129 


The  Immigration  Commission  could  not  find  a  tenement  occupied 
by  the  native-born  in  order  to  compare  it  with  that  occupied  by 
foreigners.  No  native-born  persons  of  native  parentage  live 
in  tenements  in  America.  English-speaking  persons  are  found 
there ;  but  go  to  dark  alleys  and  cellars,  to  rickety  attics  and 
dark  hallways,  to  places  not  fit  for  horses  and  cows,  and  there 
you'll  find  the  foreigners.  Houses  in  the  last  stages  of  habitable- 
ness  are  occupied  by  the  recent  immigrants.  The  houses  are 
not  always  safe.  In  a  town  on  the  Hudson,  a  row  of  houses 
stood  near  a  bank  that  was  being  dug.  The  contractors  came 
too  near  the  row,  and  in  a  moment  it  went  down  and  forty  ten- 
ants were  killed,  most  of  them  foreigners. 

Some  Crowding  Done.  —  Instances  of  crowding  are  frequently 
found.  In  a  tenement  house  in  South  Chicago,  more  than  300 
men  lived,  most  of  whom  "  batched."  They  lived  cheap  and 
saved  for  dear  ones  in  the  fatherland.  In  South  Omaha,  the 
health  officer  received  complaints  concerning  a  small  house  that 
was  occupied  by  Greeks.  He  investigated  and  found  46  men  in 
it.  A  Ruthenian,  wife  and  2  children  and  7  boarders  occupied 
one  room  in  one  of  our  cities,  while  two  foreigners,  housing  some 
of  their  fellow-men,  put  42  in  four  rooms  each,  13'  X  13',  while 
24  others  were  put  in  one  large  room  15'  X  18'.  In  Tomkins 
Cove,  N.Y.,  the  minister  was  called  to  baptize  a  babe  a  few  days 
old.  The  family  lived  in  two  rooms,  neither  of  which  was  more 
than  i2'Xi2'.  The  room  in  which  the  ceremony  was  per- 
formed had  a  bed,  a  stove,  and  a  chair,  and  the  preacher  had  to 
squeeze  in  between  these  to  come  to  the  babe.  He  marveled 
how  they  could  get  along  with  such  cramped  quarters ;  but  he 
was  still  more  amazed  a  few  weeks  later  when  the  family  took 
in  4  boarders.  In  Camden,  N.J.,  a  friend  of  mine  had  occasion 
to  go,  late  at  night,  to  a  house  occupied  by  Slavs.  He  entered 
one  room  where  he  counted  32  men.  They  had  arranged 
boxes  for  beds,  and  were  lying  upon  them  in  every  possible  shape. 
The  room  was  very  dirty  and  smelt  offensively,  the  only  redeem- 
ing feature  being  the  strong  smell  of  tobacco  used  by  the  men. 
In  Harrison,  Ohio,  a  group  of  Austrians  and  Italians  lived ;  the 
former  in  company  houses  and  the  latter  in  shacks  in  the  woods. 


I30 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


WTaen  the  rush  season  comes  on,  the  number  of  employees  doubles, 
the  accommodation  is  scarce,  and  houses  are  overcrowded.  A 
family  in  Pittsburgh  had  7  children  and  11  boarders,  and  the 
house  in  which  they  lived  only  had  three  rooms.  Of  course  the 
beds  worked  double  shift.  A  two-family  house  in  Aurora,  111., 
was  occupied  by  60  Roumanians.  In  another  house,  a  family  of 
8  occupied  three  rooms  having  two  beds. 

The  Boarding  Houses.  —  The  prevalence  of  these  boarding 
houses  depends  upon  industrial  conditions  and  the  nature  of 
the  colony.  In  Madison  and  Granite  City,  for  instance,  where 
Bulgarians  and  Macedonians  have  flocked  in  the  last  eight  years, 
many  such  boarding  houses  are  found.  The  same  is  true  of 
Greek  colonies  in  Lowell  and  Manchester  ;  but  in  colonies  where 
newer  immigrants  have  not  settled  in  large  numbers  in  recent 
years,  the  number  of  stag  boarding  houses  is  diminishing.  This 
is  true  of  the  coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania  ;  it  is  also  true  of  South 
Side  Pittsburgh.  Immigrants  from  new  sources,  such  as  Croatia 
and  Dalmatia,  Bulgaria  and  Roumania,  Greece  and  Turkey, 
following  the  invariable  law  that  the  males  come  alone  lea\'ing 
their  wives  and  children,  mothers  and  sisters  in  the  old  country 
—  these  are  the  ones  which  to-day  form  boarding  houses  where 
males  crowd.  The  Immigration  Commission  found  40  per  cent 
of  homes  of  the  foreign-bom  having  boarders  or  lodgers,  while 
the  number  of  persons  to  the  sleeping  room  among  the  foreigners 
was  2.89  as  against  1.96  among  the  native-born.  The  crowded 
stag  boarding  house  is  a  makeshift.  As  the  people  settle,  bring 
over  their  famiUes,  or  found  homes  in  this  country,  the  boarders 
scatter  and  the  foreign-born  conform  more  nearly  to  the  standards 
of  modern  ciWlization.  The  worst  conditions  are  found  among 
the  Roumanians,  Servians,  Croatians,  Lithuanians,  Magyars, 
Russians,  and  Ruthenians,  among  whom  more  than  50  per  cent 
of  the  famiHes  have  boarders.^ 

Beds  used  Day  and  Night.  —  Sometimes  when  crowding  is 
great,  the  beds,  as  before  stated,  work  double  shift.  The  fore- 
man of  a  glass  factory  in  western  Pennsylvania  called  on  a 
boarding  boss,  who  supplied  him  with  laborers,  and  said :  "I 

1  See  table  X  in  addenda. 


HOUSING  CONDITIONS 


want  six  men  for  the  day  shift."  Mike  replied :  "  Can't  get 
'em.  Can  get  you  six  men  for  night  shift."  "  Why  can't  you 
give  me  the  men  for  the  day  turn?  "  "  Well,"  said  the  board- 
ing boss,  "  all  my  beds  are  used  at  night,  but  I  have  room  for 
six  more  in  the  day."  In  the  city  of  Columbus,  Ohio,  a  Magyar 
was  injured.  The  foreman  advised  him  to  go  to  the  hospital, 
but  he  insisted  upon  going  to  his  boarding  house.  The  man 
worked  the  night  shift,  and  on  the  second  day  the  boarding  boss 
came  to  the  foreman  and  said  :  "  John  must  go  to  the  hospital." 
"Why?  "  asked  the  boss.  "Well,"  was  the  reply,  "  his  work 
was  night  and  sleep  in  the  day,  but  now  he  is  home  night  and  I 
have  no  place  for  him  to  sleep."  These,  however,  are  excep- 
tional cases,  and  are  only  found  in  industrial  centers  when  the 
industries  are  flourishing  and  more  men  come  in  than  can  find 
boarding  places.  Sometimes  lack  of  work  drives  men  into 
greater  crowding.  When  boarders  flee,  because  of  an  industrial 
slump,  two  families  will  move  into  one  house  and  thus  save  one 
rent.  In  Buffalo,  a  philanthropically  disposed  woman,  knowing 
of  the  crowding  prevalent  in  West  Seneca,  gave  a  large  house  for 
reasonable  rent  to  a  foreigner  who  was  above  the  average  in 
intelligence,  with  the  understanding  that  the  number  of  boarders 
was  not  to  exceed  two  to  a  room.  At  midwinter  she  was  in- 
formed that  the  rooms  in  the  house  were  crowded.  She  investi- 
gated and  found  five  men  in  one  room,  but  estimating  the  total 
number  of  boarders  in  the  house  the  number  per  room  was  just 
two.  She  asked  why  they  did  not  use  all  the  house,  and  the 
boarding  boss  replied :  "  Burn  too  much  coal  to  keep  warm." 
He  had  closed  up  more  than  half  the  house,  and  the  family 
huddled  together  in  a  few  rooms  which  could  be  kept  warm  at 
low  cost. 

The  Boarding  Boss  is  Watched. —  The  boarding  boss  is  the 
one  who  gives  greatest  concern  to  the  municipal  authorities 
and  also  to  the  landlords.  Forty  per  cent  of  the  foreign-speak- 
ing families  have  boarders  or  lodgers ;  but  that  statement  does 
not  give  a  correct  idea  of  the  situation.  In  a  city  like  South 
Bend,  Ind.,  or  in  Meriden,  Conn.,  where  the  Poles  have  lived  for 
many  years,  the  boarding  house  evil  is  an  exception.    In  a  city 


132 


TEE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


like  Gary,  Lorain,  Barberton,  Lackawanna  City,  etc.,  it  would 
be  the  rule.  In  Woodsrun,  Pa.,  the  foreigners  crowd  into  houses 
when  the  steel  industry  flourishes,  but  during  the  slump  there  is 
ample  room  for  all.  In  young  industrial  communities  as  Moline, 
East  Moline,  East  St.  Louis,  Steelton,  etc.,  the  housing  problem 
is  amost  perplexing  one  —  the  people  say,  ''  There  are  no  houses 
to  be  had  '  for  love  or  money,'  "  and  when  crowding  takes  place 
it  is  due  to  the  incoming  foreigners  who  huddle  together.  The 
health  ofl&cers  in  cities  where  the  foreigners  live  in  large  numbers 
must  be  vigilant,  if  the  health  of  the  city  is  to  be  safeguarded. 
When  Delray  was  incorporated  into  the  city  of  Detroit  as  the 
i8th  ward,  it  was  the  same  as  if  a  part  of  backward  Europe  were 
attached.  The  problems  which  the  i8th  ward  brought  to  the 
city  were  many,  but  none  greater  than  the  question  of  sanita- 
tion. This  foreign-speaking  colony  had  built  homes  without 
any  regard  whatsoever  to  the  laws  of  health  ;  to  whip  them  into 
line  as  demanded  by  the  city  regulations  required  a  long  and 
patient  struggle,  and  in  many  cases  the  strong  arm  of  the  execu- 
tive department  was  summoned. 

Laws,  Tools  for  Graf  tests. — Many  towns  pass  laws  regulating 
air  space  per  man  in  boarding  houses.  A  boarding  boss  who 
persistently  violated  the  municipal  ordinance  was  brought  before 
the  judge,  fined  $25,  and  ordered  to  take  out  half  the  number 
of  beds  in  each  room.  A  week  later,  and  the  old  order  was 
restored ;  again  he  was  brought  to  court,  fined  S50,  and  told 
if  again  he  appeared,  a  jail  sentence  would  be  imposed.  The 
beds  were  permanently  removed,  but  the  total  number  of 
boarders  was  not  reduced —  he  scattered  them  around  and  the 
men  slept  on  the  floor.  In  most  places  the  law  against  crowding 
is  a  dead  letter.  In  one  town  I  found  that  it  was  used  as  a 
means  of  graft.  Eighty  Syrians  were  in  one  house  in  this  town, 
and  the  group  was  "  pulled  "  one  Saturday  night,  after  the  wan- 
derers and  their  packs  had  all  come  home.  The  authorities 
held  them  and  demanded  of  each  man  $9  for  fine  and  costs. 
About  a  fourth  of  the  men  paid,  but  the  remainder  affirmed  that 
they  had  no  money.  The  mayor  sent  for  the  "  king,"  and  de- 
manded of  him  that  he  should  redeem  his  people  at  the  above 


HOUSING  CONDITIONS 


rate  per  head.  He  would  not  do  it.  The  town  ofl&cials  had  sixty 
men  in  jail  that  Saturday  night,  and  there  was  more  congestion 
at  police  headquarters  than  would  have  been  in  the  house  from 
which  the  poor  fellows  were  taken.  Sunday  morning,  the  mayor 
again  sent  for  the  "  king."  What  would  he  give  him  for  the 
release  of  the  whole  "  bunch  "  ?  He  went  in  and  consulted  the 
men,  and  the  bargain  was  struck  for  $80.  That  was  a  process  of 
graft,  pure  and  simple,  and  it  was  not  the  first  played  upon  the 
foreigners  by  these  native-born  politicians.  Laws  of  sanita- 
tion are  good,  but  it  requires  eternal  vigilance  to  enforce  them 
in  foreign  colonies  where  the  people  are  like  the  sands  on  the  sea- 
shore, ever  shifting ;  but  in  many  rapidly  growing  industrial 
communities,  where  a  multitude  of  grafters,  tricksters,  parasites, 
and  vampires  congregate  for  loot  and  blackmail,  the  very  laws 
for  the  protection  of  the  community  become  cloaks  for  the  de- 
generate to  exploit  the  ignorant  foreigner. 

Foreigners  rack  Houses.  —  The  foreigners,  as  before  stated, 
pay  more  rent  generally  than  the  English-speaking.  Wherever 
there  are  boarders,  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  house  is  such  as  to 
justify  this  increased  rent.  Some  English-speaking  landlords 
rent  a  house  to  a  boarding  boss  and  his  wife  on  condition  that 
they  get  a  dollar  per  boarder  per  month.  "  The  more  the  mer- 
rier." Mr.  Crocker,  house  agent  of  the  Berwick  Car  Co.,  said 
that  the  foreigners  with  boarders  were  hard  on  houses,  and  in 
order  to  teach  them  to  be  careful,  he  established  the  rule  that 
all  charges  for  repairs  were  to  be  paid  by  the  boarding  boss.  In 
another  town,  wholly  occupied  by  foreigners,  the  company  tried 
to  clean  up  the  houses,  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  by  doing  some 
whitewashing.  The  men  came  and  began  work.  The  foreign 
wives  objected,  and  within  an  hour  the  whitewashing  crowd  was 
on  the  run,  dodging  flying  missiles  and  pursued  by  demonstra- 
tions that  were  menacing.  A  landlord  who  had  rented  to  for- 
eigners justified  the  advance  in  rent  from  $12  to  $15  a  month, 
on  the  plea  that  the  house  could  no  longer  be  rented  to  English- 
speaking  people  and  that  the  cost  of  maintenance  was  twice 
what  it  used  to  be.  A  landlord  in  Dayton,  Ohio,  spent  several 
hundred  dollars  to  fix  up  houses  rented  to  foreigners.  He 


134 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


thought  he  would  raise  their  ideals  of  care  of  property  by  starting 
them  off  in  houses  newly  papered,  painted,  and  repaired.  It  was 
not  long  before  he  said :  "  It's  no  use  —  they're  as  bad  as  ever." 
Many  of  these  people  have  never  been  used  to  houses  plastered, 
papered,  polished  banisters,  nicely  adjusted  locks  and  knobs ; 
and  when  they  put  their  foot  through  the  one  and  wrench  the 
other  out  of  joint,  we  can't  understand  how  it  is  done  and  they 
don't  understand  us  when  we  get  "  furious."  James  R.  Forbes 
says  that  it  is  not  enough  to  give  these  people  decent  houses  in 
which  to  live,  but  that  it  is  necessary  also  to  teach  them  how  to 
live  in  them  and  how  to  observe  the  laws  of  sanitation.  A  man 
in  Chicago  told  me  lately  that  the  foreigners  who  live  in  some  of 
the  model  houses  in  Pullman  City  use  bath  tubs  to  stow  away 
useful  things  for  the  household,  such  as  coal,  potatoes,  etc., 
and  go  without  bathing.  There  is  need  of  teaching  families 
how  to  live.  Healthful  and  safe  communities  in  which  foreigners 
live  will  only  be  possible  when  wise  landlords  furnish  a  sanitary 
instructor  and  supervisor  whose  duty  is  to  teach  the  tenants 
how  to  live  aright.  This  man  will  make  it  easier  for  the  rent 
collector  and  will  add  to  the  security  of  property. 

Foreigners  don't  bathe  Often.  —  All  foreign-speaking  workers 
are  not  clean.  The  Finn,  who  comes  from  a  country  where 
every  "  family  has  its  '  sauna  '  or  bathhouse  (which)  is  the  first 
place  built  and  the  family  live  in  it  until  the  rest  of  the  house  is 
built,"  is  very  different  from  the  Bosnian  or  southern  Italian, 
who  has  an  aversion  to  water.  The  Slavs  do  not  bathe  as  they 
should,  and  they  will  not  until  they  are  taught  the  utility  of  it. 
Mr.  Shad  well  says  of  the  Germans  :  "To  any  one  who  remem- 
bers the  Germany  of  old,  when  no  one  could  swim,  bathing  was 
thought  a  proof  of  insanity  and  washing  a  dangerous  eccen- 
tricity —  no  change  is  more  remarkable  than  the  conversion  in 
this  respect."  If  in  the  memory  of  man  such  a  change  has  been 
wrought  in  Germany,  by  instruction  and  example,  the  same  result 
may  be  attained  by  similar  means  instituted  among  Slavs  and 
Italians,  now  in  America,  who  do  not  know  how  cleanliness  pro- 
motes health.  A  certain  college  in  the  United  States,  to  which 
Italians  go  in  large  numbers,  makes  it  a  part  of  the  schedule  to 


HOUSING  CONDITIONS 


bathe  twice  a  week.  That  is  practical  "  homolavics,"  and  may- 
be more  productive  of  good  than  homiletics.  A  foreign-born 
man  of  the  right  kind  is  in  charge  of  a  settlement  house  in  one 
of  the  cities  of  the  Middle  West,  doing  excellent  work  among  his 
countrymen.  The  young  fellows  delight  to  come  to  the  gym- 
nasium and  play,  but  the  condition  upon  which  they  can  come 
is  that  they  take  a  bath  every  time  they  play.  In  this  way,  this 
social  worker  is  cleaning  up  the  second  generation  from  back- 
ward homes.  A  young  Pole  was  induced  to  go  into  the  swim- 
ming pool  in  a  Young  Men's  Christian  Association ;  after  that  he 
kept  away  from  the  building,  and  the  secretary  went  to  find  out 
why  he  stayed  away.  The  mother  of  the  lad  met  him,  gave  him 
a  piece  of  her  mind,  that  he  dared  make  her  boy  take  a  bath 
in  winter  time,  "  Did  you  want  to  kill  him?  "  Thousands  of 
immigrants  from  southeastern  Europe  do  not  appreciate  the 
value  of  personal  cleanliness.  When  visiting  Ashokan  Dam,  I 
went  to  the  hospital  and  saw  the  doctor  washing  the  feet  of  a 
lusty  young  Slav.  I  asked  the  physician  if  the  man  was  injured  ; 
he  said  "no."  "Well,  what's  the  matter  with  his  feet?" 
"  Didn't  wash  them,"  was  the  reply,  and  the  doctor  kept  on  scrub- 
bing with  the  brush.  The  young  fellow  was  working  on  the 
dam  handling  cement ;  the  fine  dust  got  into  his  shoes  and  socks, 
then  worked  into  the  pores  of  the  skin  of  the  feet,  interfered  with 
the  circulation,  and  produced  swelling  accompanied  with  intense 
pain.  If  the  young  man  had  known  enough  to  wash  his  feet 
clean  every  night,  he  would  have  avoided  the  pain  he  suffered 
and  the  loss  of  work.  There  is  one  fact  that  a  doctor  in  Chrome, 
N.J.,  brought  to  my  attention.  He  said  that  the  foreigners 
there  were  dirty,  especially  their  feet,  but  he  said,  "  Their  skin 
is  soft  as  that  of  a  babe,  much  softer  than  that  of  an  American." 
He  could  not  explain  the  reason,  but  raised  the  question  as  to 
the  frequent  use  of  soaps  by  the  latter. 

Bathing  Conveniences  Needed.  —  The  question  of  bathing 
will  never  be  solved  unless  conveniences  are  given  the  men  to 
bathe.  Miss  F.  A.  Kellor  tells  of  a  contractor  on  the  New  York 
Aqueduct,  who  did  not  believe  that  the  foreigners  in  his  camp 
wanted  to  wash,  but  at  the  suggestion  of  some  friends  of  the  aliens 


136 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


he  consented  to  put  in  some  shower  baths.  At  the  end  of  two 
weeks,  he  said,  he  had  to  increase  his  water  supply,  "  for  there 
was  not  enough  to  go  round."  In  Aurora,  111.,  the  city  fathers 
did  very  differently.  The  foreigners  on  Broad  Street  and  up 
back  of  the  Chicago,  Burlington,  and  Quincy  shops  were  crowded 
into  small  houses,  many  of  which  were  dilapidated  and  dirty. 
The  board  of  health  took  up  the  matter,  and  called  the  atten- 
tion of  the  council  chamber  to  the  conditions ;  every  member 
thought  something  should  be  done,  and  a  law  was  passed  stating 
that  every  inhabitant  of  the  city  should  take  a  bath  at  least 
once  a  week.  These  native-born  councilmen  went  to  their 
homes,  provided  with  bathrooms,  conscious  of  having  discharged 
their  duty,  and  none  asked  whether  the  foreigners  had  bathing 
facilities  or  not.  Baltimore  does  things  very  differently.  There 
is  a  man  in  that  city  who  knows  all  about  bathing  and  public 
baths.  His  name  is  Thomas  M.  Beadenkoff.  He  prepared  for 
the  ministry  and  preached  for  some  years  ;  but  there  has  not  been 
a  better  or  purer  Gospel  preached  by  any  of  the  ministers  of  that 
city  than  that  preached  by  this  man.  His  teaching  is,  that  public 
baths  are  necessarily  related  to  the  health  and  morals  of  the 
people,  and  that  the  municipality  should  provide  these  to  the 
people  who  cannot  provide  them  for  themselves  ;  and  that  $1000 
put  into  a  bathhouse  is  better  than  $50,000  put  into  a  court- 
house. He  had  a  long  fight,  but  has  won  out ;  and  the  people 
of  that  city  are  back  of  him.  In  summer  he  rigs  up  a  corrugated 
steel  structure  on  an  empty  lot  in  that  part  of  the  city  where  the 
foreigners  or  the  poor  hve,  has  a  stove  in  the  rear  of  the  building 
to  heat  the  water,  hangs  up  a  simple  apparatus  for  shower  baths, 
and  tells  the  people:  "  Come  in  and  be  clean."  An  outfit  of 
that  kind  does  not  cost  more  than  $300  or  $400,  but  it  is  a  God- 
send to  the  poor  who  are  sweltering  on  summer  days  in  a  crowded 
city.  How  much  better  would  it  have  been  for  the  city  fathers 
of  Aurora,  and  those  of  every  other  industrial  center  where 
foreigners  congregate  in  large  numbers,  had  they  made  an  ap- 
propriation, installed  a  dozen  shower  baths,  and  said  to  the 
people  who  were  dirty,  "  Come  and  be  clean  ! " 
Dirt  and  Disease.  —  It  is  our  interest,  as  well  as  that  of  the 


HOUSING  CONDITIONS 


foreigners,  to  see  that  the  laws  of  sanitation  as  laid  down  b}'' 
modern  science  are  enforced.  We  do  not  know  where  diseases 
caused  by  dirt  and  filth,  dampness  and  slovenliness,  may  strike. 
Some  Hungarian  women,  living  in  unsanitary  quarters,  worked 
in  a  factory  that  produced  supplies  for  bandaging  wounds,  etc. 
An  injured  man,  using  one  of  these  bandages,  contracted  a  dis- 
ease which  puzzled  the  doctor.  Being  a  scientific  man,  he  imme- 
diately set  to  work  to  discover  the  cause,  and  finally  came  to  the 
factory  producing  the  bandages.  He  then  came  to  the  Hun- 
garian workers  who  lived  in  unsanitary  quarters,  and  his  con- 
viction was  that  they  were  the  medium  by  which  the  poison  was 
transmitted  to  the  bandage  and  thence  to  the  man.  In  one  of 
the  towns  of  Pennsylvania  smallpox  broke  out  in  the  foreign 
quarter.  There  was  a  butcher  shop  where  one  of  the  most  refined 
girls  of  town  acted  as  cashier.  She  was  taken  sick,  and  within 
two  days  died  of  that  dreadful  disease.  The  question  was  asked 
by  all,  how  did  she  contract  it?  She  was  not  near  the  houses 
where  the  disease  was  quarantined.  No,  but  some  of  the  money 
used  by  the  people  near  the  disease  came  to  her  hand,  and  that 
was  enough.  A  friend  of  mine  went  into  a  restaurant  to  get 
some  oysters.  While  waiting,  he  heard  some  one  in  the  rear 
pounding,  so  he  went  to  see  what  was  doing.  There  he  found 
a  foreigner  opening  the  oysters  which  were  to  be  his  meal. 
He  saw  something  on  the  man's  hand,  and  on  examination  found 
that  he  suffered  from  tertiary  syphilis. 

Foreigners  serve  us.  —  There  is  not  a  hotel,  a  restaurant,  a 
clubhouse,  in  our  large  cities,  where  the  foreigner  is  not  found. 
They  do  the  menial  service  in  the  kitchen,  in  the  chamber,  in 
the  hall,  and  around  the  barroom.  They  come  in  the  morning, 
from  where  the  men  who  hire  them  know  not.  They  go  at 
night  to  their  homes,  in  the  congested  portion  of  the  city,  where 
sanitary  laws  are  not  observed.  We  have  the  knowledge  and  the 
experience  —  purchased  at  a  terrible  cost  —  to  make  the  homes 
of  the  people  safe  and  healthful ;  and  yet  there  is  not  a  city  where 
foreigners  live,  in  which  cellars  and  attics  may  not  be  found  breed- 
ing diseases  which  may  strike  innocent  parties  without  a  mo- 
ment's warning.    We  guard  diseases  from  barn  and  farm,  and  it 


138 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


is  well  we  do  ;  we  guard  against  diseases  from  ships  and  steamers, 
and  the  nation  says  it  is  well  done ;  we  strictly  inspect  the  meat 
that  is  served  us  by  the  packing  houses,  and  we  are  the  better 
for  it ;  we  have  passed  laws  requiring  that  the  food  and  medicine 
sold  to  the  nation  shall  be  life  preserving  and  not  hfe  destroying, 
and  we  say  it  is  wise ;  but  there  is  no  poison  as  deadly  as  that 
arising  from  human  filth,  no  disease  so  fatal  as  that  engendered 
by  man's  uncleanness,  no  fever  more  consuming  than  that  con- 
tracted in  damp,  dark,  unventUated  rooms  ;  and  every  year  we 
pay  a  fearful  price  in  human  health  and  happiness,  because  we 
despise  the  foreigner  and  say  "  leave  him  in  his  dirt."  We  have 
yet  to  learn  that  the  moment  a  foreigner  enters  the  country,  he 
is  one  of  us  for  good  or  evil.  Those  from  southeastern  Europe 
do  not  know  how  to  live  in  congested  quarters,  and  should  be 
taught ;  they  cannot  defend  themselves  against  avaricious  land- 
lords, and  should  be  protected  ;  they  do  not  know  the  relation 
between  cleanliness  and  health,  and  should  be  educated.  They 
are  plastic  and  teachable.  To  teach  them  how  to  live  is  to  pro- 
tect ourselves.  To  permit  medieval  sanitary  conditions  in 
America  is  to  court  danger  and  disease.  Twentieth-century 
sanitation  should  prevail,  and  the  foreigner  will  comply  with 
the  demand  if  he  is  shown  how. 


CHAPTER  X 


HOME  LIFE 

The  Anglo-Saxons  proudly  say  that  a  man's  home  is  his 
castle.  It  is  the  one  spot  that  is  sacred  and  is  so  regarded  by 
all  the  members  of  the  community  ;  no  intrusion  is  allowed,  and 
none  enter  save  at  the  invitation  of  the  lord  of  the  castle,  no 
matter  how  humble  it  may  be.  These  are  not  the  ideas  of  south- 
eastern Europeans.  The  home  to  them  is  more  of  a  social  center, 
one  into  which  friends  have  a  right  to  enter  without  invitation, 
and  the  claims  of  hospitality  are  recognized  far  more  generally 
than  among  us.  In  the  coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania,  it  was  noth- 
ing unusual  for  Slav  beggars  to  open  the  door  and  come  into  the 
house  ;  English-speaking  beggars  would  knock  and  stand  at  the 
door.  An  Armenian  came  to  New  York  and  was  introduced 
to  a  friend  of  mine.  The  newcomer  was  looking  for  work,  and 
said  to  his  new  acquaintance :  "  You  take  me  home  with  you 
and  let  me  stay  with  you  until  I  get  work."  A  Syrian  peddler 
calls  in  my  house.  She  never  knocks  or  rings  the  bell,  but 
simply  walks  in,  puts  down  her  pack,  and  takes  a  chair.  She 
had  only  been  in  the  house  three  times  all  told,  and  yet  she 
calmly  said :  "  Now  I'll  eat  my  dinner,"  and  pulled  out  a  few 
crusts  from  her  pocket  and  sat  at  table  in  the  kitchen  where 
the  family  dinner  was  being  prepared.  After  she  was  through, 
she  sat  down  in  the  sitting  room  to  rest,  and  then  wished  us  good- 
day  and  continued  her  journey.  It  was  not  "  gall "  nor  was 
it  done  in  a  brazen  way,  but  in  the  most  natural  way,  as  if  it 
were  the  right  thing ;  and  it  was  so  as  far  as  custom  regulates 
domestic  relations  in  her  country.  The  Slav  and  the  Italian, 
the  Magyar  and  Lithuanian,  the  Greek  and  the  Roumanian, 
have  a  strong  mixture  of  oriental  blood  in  their  veins,  and  their 
conception  of  the  sacredness  and  exclusiveness  of  the  home  is 
not  what  it  is  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  mind. 

139 


140 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


Foreigners  not  Fastidious.  —  These  people  are  not  as  fastid- 
ious as  English-speaking  people,  and  their  ideas  as  to  the 
amount  of  room  a  family  needs  and  the  privacy  necessary  for 
the  members  are  very  different  from  ours.  When  Miss  Reming- 
ton took  over  the  Italian  barracks  on  Canal  Street  in  Buffalo,  in 
which  more  than  iioo  people  were  packed,  she  began  to  set 
things  in  order  by  attacking  the  first  floor :  put  out  the  tenants, 
rearranged  things,  and  appropriated  three  rooms  for  herself 
and  assistant.  WTien  the  tenants  learned  that  she  had  set  apart 
three  rooms  for  her  use,  they  cormnented,  "  What  extravagance  ! 
—  what  will  they  do  with  all  that  room?  "  and  they  concluded 
that  a  millionaire  had  taken  possession  of  the  house.  It  was  not 
strange,  for  on  one  of  the  floors  one  room  was  occupied  by  five 
families.  Thousands  of  these  peasants  from  southeastern 
Europe  were  raised  in  one  large  room,  which  in  winter  was  shared 
by  the  pigs,  rabbits,  chickens,  and  geese.  Take  the  following 
description  of  a  typical  hut  of  a  mushik :  "  One  square  earth- 
floored  room,  the  unplastered  walls  and  low  ceiling  of  which  were 
black  with  smoke.  One-fourth  of  it  occupied  by  a  large  brick 
oven,  another  fourth  taken  up  by  a  large  bed  which  was  com- 
monly known  as  the  '  family  bed,'  and  the  remaining  space 
filled  by  a  long  unpainted  table  with  a  rough  bench  along  each 
side  of  it,  a  pail  of  water,  a  manger  for  the  pigs,  and  a  wooden 
dish  for  the  rabbits  that  were  crowded  together  in  a  comer 
.  .  .  and  the  chickens  (were)  in  the  coop  under  the  oven."  The 
English-speaking,  not  very  long  ago,  used  to  share  the  room  with 
the  pigs  and  the  chickens.  The  parents  of  an  editor  whom  I 
know,  a  man  of  sterling  worth,  were  in  the  habit,  forty  years  ago, 
of  giving  the  pig  shelter  over  night  on  the  family  hearth.  Some 
of  these  people  do  that  to-day.  Dr.  Herdon  found  three  pigs 
sheltered  in  the  home  of  a  foreigner  in  a  New  England  town  ;  he 
called  them  "  twentieth-century  pigs,"  but  they  were  pigs  in 
every  sense  of  the  word.  It  will  take  time  to  bring  these  people 
to  a  right  idea  of  what  a  home  ought  to  be,  for  they  were  raised 
under  standards  very  different  from  those  obtaining  in  America. 

Relation  of  the  Sexes.  —  The  one-room  home  also  has  its 
effect  upon  the  sensitiveness  of  the  relation  of  the  sexes.  Men 


HOME  LIFE 


141 


and  women  raised  under  one-room  conditions  act  in  each  other's 
presence  very  differently  from  those  who  are  reared  in  homes 
where  the  sexes  are  strictly  segregated.  Magyar,  Slav,  and  Rou- 
manian, single  men  and  women,  occupying  the  same  house, 
pass  to  and  fro  in  each  other's  presence,  dressed  in  a  way  that 
would  be  considered  extremely  vulgar  by  English-speaking  wage- 
earners.  It  is  not  uncommon  for  a  boarding  boss  and  his  wife 
to  share  the  same  room  with  boarders :  the  man  and  his  wife  oc- 
cupy one  corner  and  the  boarders'  beds  are  in  the  other  corners. 
This  is  abominable  from  our  viewpoint,  but  it  does  not  neces- 
sarily imply  a  state  of  immorality  in  or  of  polyandry  among  — 
as  some  have  inferred — the  occupants.  Absolute  purity  is  not 
found  among  foreigners  any  more  than  among  EngUsh-speaking 
peoples ;  but  the  percentage  of  domestic  infidelity  and  immo- 
rality among  Magyars  and  Slavs,  Lithuanians  and  Italians,  is  not 
greater  than  it  is  among  English-speaking  people  in  the  same 
social  status.  The  Italians  live  in  as  crowded  quarters  as  any 
race  of  the  new  immigration,  but  no  people  among  the  old 
immigrants  have  more  virtuous  wives  and  daughters.  A  Polish 
priest  in  Baltimore  told  me :  "  The  Polish  girls  are  at  a  premium : 
young  men  who  want  them  must  marry  them.  It's  not  so  among 
Americans."  Races  have  varying  standards  in  social  and 
domestic  life,  and  it  is  both  unkind  and  imjust  to  charge  peoples 
of  a  different  race  with  immorality,  because  they  allow  the  sexes 
to  intermingle  more  freely  than  is  the  custom  among  us.  When 
an  English  lady  traveling  in  Servia  was  entertained  over  night 
by  a  farmer  who  lived  in  one  room,  she  slept  on  the  floor,  as  the 
father,  mother,  and  two  daughters  did.  She  says  :  "  My  host 
took  off  his  coat  and  spread  it  over  me,  wrapped  himself  in  his 
great  coat  and  lay  down  by  my  side.  '  So  thou  shalt  be  warm,' "  ^ 
he  said.  And  this  simplicity  is  characteristic  of  the  way  the  new 
immigrants  live  in  America. 

Vice  in  Homes.  —  There  are  instances  of  irregularities  among 
all  these  peoples.    In  Coatesyille,  Pa.,  some  Roumanians  lived 
as  husband  and  wife  without  marriage.    A  gentleman  asked 
them  why  they  lived  so,  and  they  explained  that  it  was  not  an 
'  "Through  the  Lands  of  the  Serbs,"  p.  340. 


142 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


uncommon  thing  for  men  and  women  in  Roumania  to  live  to- 
gether without  marriage,  for  the  matrimonial  ceremony  was  too 
expensive  for  poor  people.  He  suggested  that  it  was  indecent 
and  contrary  to  law  to  live  so  in  America,  and  that  they  would 
better  marry  in  the  regular  way.  "  Sure,"  they  replied ;  and  a 
clergyman  performed  the  ceremony  in  the  presence  of  the  chil- 
dren of  the  home.  In  Detroit,  a  foreign-speaking  woman,  whose 
husband  was  in  an  insane  asylum,  had  to  keep  boarders  for  a 
living,  and  is  rapidly  raising  a  family  of  illegitimate  children. 
Another  foreigner  visited  the  old  country,  leaving  his  wife  in 
charge  of  his  brother.  He  was  gone  for  a  year.  When  he  re- 
turned his  wife  had  a  baby  two  months  old.  He  was  very  angry 
and  wanted  to  know  who  was  the  author  of  the  wrong ;  but  the 
thought  of  leaving  his  wife  and  getting  a  divorce  never  entered 
his  mind.  A  case  of  infideUty  recently  occurred  in  Dayton, 
Ohio ;  the  wife  left  her  husband  and  children  and  eloped  with 
one  of  the  boarders.  She  was  gone  two  weeks ;  then  the  wan- 
derer returned,  and  the  former  husband  took  her  in,  and  life 
went  on  as  before  the  desertion.^  Some  EngUsh-speaking  people 
violate  the  sanctity  of  the  foreigner's  home,  and  there  is  reason 
to  believe  that  this  is  done  with  the  knowledge  and  consent  of 
the  husband,  who  has  received  favors  from  the  boss  in  the  works. 
Cases  of  this  character  are  rare,  and  it  would  not  be  difficult  to 
duplicate  instances  equally  abominable  among  English-speaking 
peoples.  Vice  and  sin  are  the  accompaniments  of  every  social 
order,  no  matter  what  the  race  be  or  where  they  live. 

"Women  are  Drudges.  —  The  condition  of  women  in  the  homes 
of  foreigners  is  not  the  best.  The  wife  is  a  drudge,  and  slaves 
incessantly  for  her  household.  Among  the  Slavs  she  is  not 
indulged  in  any  way ;  the  burdens  she  assumes  as  a  matter  of 
course,  and  if  her  husband  abuses  her,  there  is  no  complaint  and 
no  arrest.  If  a  Slavic  or  Itahan  woman  causes  her  husband  to 
be  arrested  for  abuse,  it  is  proof  positive  that  she  has  adopted 

'  Some  Russian  Jews,  in  the  Ghetto  of  New  York  City,  go  to  the  Rabbis  for 
a  divorce  and  get  it ;  they  then  put  away  their  wives  and  marry  other  women. 
This  was  possible  in  Russia  and  they  cannot  understand  why  it  is  not  lawful  in 
the  United  States  and  ask  why  should  the  government  interfere  with  their  liberty. 


HOME  LIFE 


American  standards  of  marital  relation.  Among  the  newer 
immigrants,  such  as  the  Bulgarians  and  Macedonians,  Greeks 
and  Roumanians,  Turks  and  Albanians,  the  number  of  women 
is  very  small.  The  few  who  have  accompanied  the  immigrants 
are  enslaved  as  wives  of  boarding  bosses,  and  their  lot  is  most 
wretched.  A  Servian  priest  in  Johnstown,  Pa.,  said  :  "  Twelve 
of  our  women  have  died  in  the  last  year  —  killed  by  work,  run- 
ning boarding  houses."  To  cook,  wash,  do  the  chores  and  keep 
open  house  for  twenty  or  thirty  men  is  no  small  task.  The 
boarders  work  night  and  day,  and  it  is  meals  at  all  hours.  The 
wife  is  the  only  one  who  watches  over  the  fire,  gets  ready  the 
water  for  the  men  to  wash,  and  prepares  the  food.  Night  men 
come  home  any  hour  in  the  morning,  and  the  woman  must  be 
there  to  wait  on  them.  They  are  burden  bearers  in  the  most 
literal  sense.  In  many  of  the  New  England  towns  it  is  nothing 
unusual  for  a  mother  to  work  in  the  mill  with  her  husband  — 
working  to  within  a  few  weeks  of  her  confinement  and  starting 
in  again  as  soon  as  possible  after  the  birth  of  the  child,  leaving 
the  children  in  the  care  of  an  elderly  woman  or  a  girl  of  ten  or 
twelve.  These  conditions  are  not  conducive  to  cleanliness  nor 
the  proper  care  of  children. 

Fecundity  of  Foreign  Women.  —  The  foreign-speaking  woman 
is  a  chUd-bearer.  The  rule  is  "  bearing  or  nursing " ;  if  con- 
scious efforts  are  made  to  check  the  birth  rate,  it  is  evidence  that 
the  woman  is  copying  some  other  standard  than  that  of  her  own 
people.  The  number  of  barren  women  among  the  foreign-born 
is  small  compared  with  that  of  those  of  native  parentage  :  in  the 
former  it  is  only  one  in  fifteen,  in  the  latter  it  is  one  in  six.  Ten 
foreign-born  married  women  have  an  average  of  47  children ; 
but  the  same  number  of  native-born  women  of  native  parentage 
have  only  24.  Ten  married  women  of  native  birth  but  of  foreign 
parentage  come  in  between  these  two  extremes,  having  on  an 
average  35  children.  Polish  women  show  the  greatest  fecundity, 
having  on  an  average  a  child  every  2.3  years  during  the  period 
of  child-bearing,  while  women  of  native  parentage  only  bear  one  in 
5.9  years.  It  is  also  interesting  to  observe  that  the  women  of  the  old 
immigration  differ  greatly  from  those  of  the  new  in  this  respect. 


144 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


In  the  latter  one  in  ten  women  is  barren,  in  the  former  one  in  five, 
while  the  number  of  children  born  per  marriage  is  as  4.9  to  3.5.^ 
Child  Bearing.  —  It  is  astonishing  how  little  the  incident  of 
birth  interferes  with  the  running  of  the  home  in  many  Slav 
families.  It  is  not  unusual  for  a  woman  to  give  birth  to  a  child 
to-day  and  be  about  her  household  duties  to-morrow.  A  woman 
in  Passaic  left  her  loom  and  went  to  a  back  room.  Soon  the 
cry  of  a  baby  was  heard,  and  there  the  woman  had  the  child 
in  her  hands.  Women  who  do  this  have  very  different  ideas 
and  notions  about  child-bearing  from  those  entertained  by  our 
women.  Among  the  English-speaking  in  like  extremities  both 
mother  and  child  would  perish.  Foreign-speaking  women,  as 
soon  as  married,  assume  the  function  of  child-bearing  in  the  most 
naive  manner,  and  would  regard  it  as  next  to  a  calamity  if  they 
could  not  present  their  husbands  with  many  children.  They 
seldom  call  in  the  doctor.  In  New  York  State  :  "  Until  1907 
there  was  no  official  recognition  of  her  (midwife's)  existence  de- 
spite the  fact  that  94  per  cent  of  the  Italian  births,  60  per  cent 
of  the  Austro-Hungarian  and  Bohemian,  31  per  cent  of  the  Rus- 
sian, 31  per  cent  of  the  German,  and  42  per  cent  of  all  births 
in  New  York  City  were  attended  by  midwives."^  And  in  every 
state  where  foreigners  live,  the  conditions  obtaining  in  the  Em- 
pire State  are  the  rule,  unless  laws  are  enacted  and  enforced  to 
exercise  supervision  over  midwives.  The  fecundity  of  the  for- 
eign-born mother  means  a  high  birth  rate,  but  this  is  also 
accompanied  by  a  high  death  rate.  It  is  nothing  unusual  to 
find  a  death  rate  of  20  per  cent  among  children  under  one  year 
old,  and  the  still-born  and  prem.aturely  born  form  another  8  per 
cent.  This  is  a  terrible  waste.  Compare  it  with  the  2  or  3 
per  cent  deaths  among  the  children  of  well-to-do  families. 
Among  the  causes  of  a  high  death  rate  may  be  mentioned  the 
unsanitary  conditions  of  the  home,  the  drink  habit,  the  frequent 
child-bearing  of  the  mother,  and  the  service  of  an  ignorant  mid- 
wife —  these  quench  many  a  flame  which  otherwise  would  pos- 
sibly bless  the  home  and  the  world. 

*  See  Table  XI  in  addenda. 

'  See  "  Report  of  Commission  on  Immigration, "  New  York  State,  p.  18. 


HOME  LIFE 


Old  World  Customs.  —  The  woman  of  the  home  clings  also 
to  old  country  ways  and  customs.  The  immigrants  soon  copy 
their  neighbors  in  dress,  but  they  cannot  throw  away  customs 
and  habits  of  the  old  country  as  they  throw  away  their  garments. 
The  spirit  of  the  race  rules  the  lives  of  men  though  living  in  the 
new  world.  The  ancestral  sway  brings  many  contentions  into 
homes  of  foreigners.  When  the  children  grow  they  copy  Ameri- 
can ways  more  freely  than  the  parents  can  or  will ;  the  young 
people  want  to  bring  these  into  the  home,  but  as  long  as  the 
foreign-speaking  mother  is  in  control,  standards  of  the  homeland 
will  prevail.  New  standards  cannot  be  introduced  in  homes  as 
new  furniture  can .  Racial  tastes  differ,  methods  of  preparing  food 
differ,  and  the  dishes  prepared  after  the  manner  in  the  fatherland 
are  long  adhered  to  after  the  second  generation  have  controlled 
the  external  appearance  of  the  home.  A  Roumanian  mother 
baking  bread  in  olive  oil  and  giving  some  of  it  to  her  four-year- 
old  child  to  eat  appears  little  less  than  criminal,  and  yet  it  is 
their  practice  in  this  country.  When  Americans  go  to  a  Turkish 
restaurant  and  order  a  regular  Turkish  dinner,  few  of  them  feel 
particularly  happy  as  they  wrestle  with  the  dishes  put  before 
them,  which  differ  greatly  from  the  style  of  cooking  they  have 
been  accustomed  to.  In  Aurora,  111.,  the  Roumanians  wanted 
bread  baked  after  the  manner  of  their  homeland.  A  German 
baker  supplied  them  with  good  bread,  but  they  wanted  the  Rou- 
manian kind  and  asked  him  to  prepare  it  for  them.  The  Ger- 
man was  a  good  baker,  but  a  poor  business  man.  He  refused 
to  comply,  and  lost  the  trade.  One  of  their  own  number  took 
the  hint,  supplied  the  demand,  and  has  built  up  a  flourishing 
trade.  Even  in  the  killing  of  pigs  racial  peculiarities  come  in. 
A  clergyman  in  Dayton,  Ohio,  was  busy  preparing  to  slaughter 
one  when  we  called  on  him.  He  said  :  "  I  have  a  Hungarian 
butcher  to  do  the  killing  after  the  Hungarian  fashion.  He  will 
burn  off  the  hair  with  straw  so  as  to  make  the  skin  soft  and  tender, 
and  the  meat  will  be  sweeter."  Of  course  the  articles  of  food 
on  the  table  of  the  Slav  and  the  Italian,  the  Magyar  and  the 
Persian,  may  be  more  abundant  and  varied  than  was  the  custom 
in  the  fatherland,  but  the  ways  of  preparing  foods  are  those 


146 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


imported  from  across  the  sea.  In  customs  surrounding  birth, 
marriage,  and  death,  the  usages  of  the  old  world  dominate. 
The  relation  of  the  home  and  the  church  is  wholly  dominated 
by  old  world  ideas — the  custom  of  blessing  home  and  basket, 
ceremonies  of  purification,  are  bits  of  the  old  in  the  new  world. 
When  the  family  break  away  from  these  customs,  they  move 
out  of  the  foreign  colony,  live  in  a  better  home,  purchase  carpets 
and  furniture  as  Americans  do;  then  the  family  is  no  longer 
foreign,  it  is  run  by  the  native-born  of  foreign  parentage,  and  the 
old  folks,  if  they  still  live,  are  in  the  background.  Few  of  the 
new  immigrants  have  come  to  that  stage  ;  they  are  swayed  by 
the  customs  and  habits  of  the  old  world,  and  no  one  can  spend 
a  day  in  any  of  their  colonies  without  feeling  this. 

Dirty  Homes.  —  Many  of  the  housewives  of  the  new  immigra- 
tion are  dirty  in  the  home.  A  social  worker  who  has  devoted  the 
best  years  of  her  life  to  work  among  southern  Italians  said  : 
"  The  average  Italian  woman  is  dirty  ;  there  are  exceptions,  but, 
taken  as  a  whole,  their  homes  are  dirty."  She  said  that  mothers 
were  afraid  to  wash  the  crown  of  the  head  of  the  child,  imagining 
that  the  soft  part  of  the  skull  might  be  injured  ;  the  consequences 
are  often  serious.  Many  Slav  women  are  unclean.  One  of  these 
was  hired  by  a  friend  of  mine  to  do  housework  in  Chicago.  It 
was  not  long  before  the  wife  could  not  tolerate  her  in  the  same 
room.  She  asked  her  to  wash,  bought  a  cake  of  sweet-smelling 
soap  as  an  inducement,  told  her  that  there  was  plenty  of  warm 
water  for  her  use  —  but  no,  she  had  to  get  rid  of  her.  All 
nationalities  among  the  new  immigrants  are  not  dirty.  An  in- 
surance agent  who  has  worked  among  them  said  that  the  hall 
and  the  yard  may  be  very  dirty  while  the  interior  of  the  house 
may  be  comparatively  clean.  In  the  investigations  of  the  Im- 
migration Commission  the  relative  percentages  of  dirty  apart- 
ments found  among  the  native-born,  native-born  of  foreign-born 
parentage,  and  the  foreign-born  were  as  6.8,  7.2,  and  13.4.  If, 
however,  we  take  the  peoples  of  the  new  immigration  and  com- 
pare them  with  the  native-born  of  native  parentage,  the  percen- 
tages of  dirty  homes  are  23.1  and  7.8  respectively.^   Men  who 

1  See  Immigration  Commission's  Abstract  Report  on  "Immigrants  in  Cities,"  p.  35. 


HOME  LIFE 


147 


have  known  certain  races  in  the  old  immigration  say  that  they 
were  as  dirty  as  any  now  coming  from  the  backward  countries 
of  Europe.  Of  course,  the  foreigners  are  not  the  only  dirty  ones. 
The  following  is  from  Mr.  Shadwell's  "  Industrial  Efficiency  "  : 
"  English  workmen  love  to  be  dirty  all  the  week  ;  they  seem  to 
take  pride  in  presenting  a  ruffianly  appearance.  It  is  the 
mark  of  their  calling,  the  honorable  badge  of  toil,  the  privilege 
of  the  horny-handed." 

Superstition.  —  Some  of  these  people  do  things  that  show  gross 
neglect  and  ignorance.  A  doctor  living  in  Steubenville,  Ohio, 
was  called  to  the  home  of  a  foreigner  to  treat  a  child  suffering 
from  scarlet  fever.  One  morning  he  noticed  a  big  lump  in  bed 
with  the  child.  He  sent  the  mother  for  some  water,  and  looked 
to  see  what  the  lump  was  —  it  was  the  kneaded  dough  put  in  a 
warm  place  to  rise.  In  Ishpeming,  Mich.,  I  saw  a  child  with 
a  scalp  as  bare  as  the  palm  of  my  hand.  I  inquired,  why  was  the 
child  bald?  They  replied  that  the  teacher  in  school  told  the 
parents  that  they  must  use  something  to  kill  the  vermin  on  the 
child's  head  —  something  strong.  They  followed  instruction, 
and  in  their  ignorance  killed  all  the  roots  of  the  hair  in  the 
child's  head.  In  Omaha,  Mr.  Bingham,  secretary  of  the  Help- 
ing Hand  Society,  visited  a  foreigner's  home,  and  found  a  baby 
sleeping  on  the  floor  and  the  cat  tied  to  the  leg  of  the  table  close 
by.  He  asked  the  mother  why  she  did  this.  "To  keep  away 
the  rats  from  my  child,"  was  her  reply.  The  foreign-speaking 
mothers  love  their  children,  and  are  anxious  to  guard  them 
against  all  evil.  This  is  why  so  many  charms  are  used  to  ward 
off  evU  influences.  When  a  physician  was  called  to  treat  a  child 
in  one  of  the  cities  of  the  Middle  West,  he  found  him  on  the 
floor  surrounded  by  a  circle  made  of  chalk  with  mystic  signs 
—  they  were  trying  to  charm  away  the  demon.  The  mother 
was  also  sick  abed,  and  the  people  expected  her  to  get  well,  for 
the  priest  had  been  there  with  consecrated  water  to  drive  away 
the  power  of  evil.  Mothers  put  amulets  on  their  children  to 
ward  off  the  influence  of  the  evil  eye ;  and  if  they  imagine  the 
child  suffers  from  it,  they  summon  an  old  woman  to  counteract 
the  influence.    While  we  sat  one  day  chatting  with  an  ex-priest, 


148 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


one  of  the  company  sneezed,  and  immediately  the  foreign-bom 
said,  "  God  bless  you  "  and  put  up  two  fingers.  The  blessing  was 
the  antidote  necessary  to  check  the  power  of  darkness  summoned 
by  the  sneezing.  In  every  department  of  life,  charms,  amulets, 
and  blessings  are  used,  to  counteract  supposed  powers  of  evil, 
which  ever  threaten  the  lives  of  the  new  immigrants. 

The  Married.  —  Seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  new  immigration 
is  male.  Many  of  these  men  have  wives  in  the  fatherland,  but 
the  average  age  of  the  immigrant  is  about  23  years,  so  that  the 
vast  majority  are  young  men  in  the  prime  of  life,  seeking  better 
economic  conditions  in  a  new  world.  The  investigations  of  the 
Immigration  Commission  into  the  conjugal  condition  of  immi- 
grants reveals  that  the  proportion  of  foreign-born  persons, 
20  years  of  age  or  over,  married,  is  much  larger  than  that  of  the 
native-bom :  in  the  one  case  it  is  82.8  per  cent  and  in  the  other 
67.6.  As  before  stated,  the  custom  is,  when  a  nation  begins  to 
emigrate,  for  the  males  to  lead  the  way,  and  among  the  new  un- 
migration  a  large  number  of  married  men,  an  average  of  22.7 
per  cent,  have  their  wives  across  the  sea :  but  of  the  married 
Bulgarians,  90  per  cent  are  so  situated  ;  of  the  Macedonians,  96 ; 
of  the  Turks,  84  ;  of  the  Montenegrins,  76  ;  of  the  Greeks,  75  ; 
and  so  on  through  the  list  of  married  men  of  the  newer  immigra- 
tion. Here  again  we  have  a  striking  contrast  between  the  new 
and  the  old  immigrants.  Sixty-one  per  cent  of  the  more  recent 
married  immigrants  from  southeastern  Europe  have  their  wives 
in  the  fatherland,  but  only  2.7  per  cent  of  the  married  men  of 
the  old  immigration  are  so  situated.^  Thousands  of  yoimg  men 
who  come  to  marry  in  America  find  wives  either  among  single 
women  of  their  own  people  in  this  country  or  import  them  from 
the  fatherland.  An  Armenian  told  me  how  difficult  it  was  for 
him  to  get  his  prospective  wife  from  Armenia,  and  how  much 
it  cost  him  to  bribe  Turkish  officials  who  handled  passports.  I 
suggested,  "Why  not  marry  an  American  woman?  "  and  his 
reply  was  :  "  No  good  —  she  arrest  husband  —  Armenian  women 
die  first."    It  is  not  always  easy  for  a  young  man  to  import  a 

'  See  Immigration  Commission's  Abstract  of  Report  on  "Immigrants  in  Manu- 
facturing and  Mining,"  p.  171  f. 


HOME  LIFE 


149 


young  woman  from  the  fatherland  ;  but  in  this  custom  rules,  as 
in  all  else.  A  young  Italian  in  Ohio  wanted  a  wife.  He  sent  a 
request  to  his  parents  to  choose  him  a  young  woman,  and,  accom- 
panying the  letter,  he  sent  $150  to  pay  for  her  transportation 
to  America.  The  young  lady  came,  but  before  the  ceremony  was 
performed,  she  visited  Joliet  and  there  met  a  young  man  whom 
she  knew  in  Italy,  who  asked  her  to  marry  him.  She  came  back 
to  the  young  man  in  Ohio  and  told  him  the  situation,  and  asked 
for  her  release.  "  All  right,"  said  the  man  ;  "  if  he  pays  me  my 
$150,  you  can  go."  The  Joliet  man  did  not  have  the  cash; 
"  Well,"  said  the  original  suitor,  "  I'll  marry  you"  ;  so  he  took 
her  to  the  priest,  who  tied  the  knot ;  and  they  live  peacefully. 
Romance  and  sentiment  do  not  play  as  great  a  part  in  the  marital 
contract  among  these  people  as  among  ourselves. 

A  Wedding. — While  visiting  a  foreign  colony  last  winter  we 
were  invited  to  a  wedding  which  was  to  take  place  on  a  Satur- 
day afternoon.  The  bridegroom  and  his  best  man  spent  the 
morning  going  the  rounds  to  invite  the  guests.  At  the  appointed 
hour  we  were  in  church,  witnessed  the  ceremony  —  the  crown- 
ing of  the  bride  and  bridegroom,  the  partaking  of  the  Commun- 
ion, the  pledging  on  bent  knee — and  we  heard  the  exhortation, 
which  was  so  solemn  that  both  parties  were  affected  to  tears.  It 
was  indeed  a  solemn  ceremony,  far  more  so  than  that  generally 
performed  in  Protestant  churches,  providing  the  parties  go  to 
church.  That  night  we  went  to  the  hall,  hired  for  the  occasion, 
where  the  friends  of  the  bridal  couple  celebrated  the  wedding. 
Much  beer  was  consumed  amid  clouds  of  smoke,  and  all  present 
danced.  Four  musicians  with  stringed  instruments  were  en- 
gaged to  discourse  music,  and  the  performance  was  continuous. 
The  bridal  dance  was  started.  The  master  of  ceremonies  had 
charge  of  the  bride,  whose  praises  he  rehearsed,  and  members  of 
the  company,  both  male  and  female,  came  up  to  dance  with  her, 
for  which  privilege  each  paid  a  dollar.  If  no  guest  danced  with 
the  bride,  the  master  of  ceremonies  did  so,  keeping  her  in  step 
until  an  apphcant  appeared.  If  the  bridegroom  is  a  popular 
young  man,  from  $200  to  $250  will  be  collected  in  this  way  — 
all  of  which  is  given  to  the  bride.    I  asked  one  of  the  leaders, 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


"  How  much  does  a  wedding  of  this  kind  cost?  "  He  said,  "  A 
hundred  dollars,  maybe  Si 20."  It  was  a  joyous  crowd,  all 
happy  as  children  —  their  chief  trouble  rises  from  booze. 
When  in  drink  the  beast  is  aroused,  and  then  quarrels  ensue. 
On  the  following  Monday,  while  visiting  the  foundry,  we  saw 
some  of  the  men  who  had  attended  the  wedding.  I  asked  a 
young  Magyar,  "  When  do  you  expect  to  marry?  "  "  Not  in 
America,"  was  his  reply  ;  "  it  costs  too  much." 

Fraudulent  Marriage.  —  Some  of  these  young  men  anxious 
to  wed  are  deceived  and  defrauded  by  men  of  their  ov\ti  nation- 
ality. Not  long  ago  the  law  got  hold  of  a  company  of  men  and 
women  who  made  a  business  of  fraudulently  marrying  young 
men,  securing  their  money,  and  leaving  them  penniless.  The 
scarcity  of  brides  among  certain  peoples  makes  fraud  of  this 
nature  easy.  Daughters  among  foreigners  are  expected  to  do 
as  their  parents  say.  The  elders  arrange  the  marriage,  and  fre- 
quently the  bride  is  not  consulted  in  the  matter.  One  of  these 
compulsory  marriages  took  place  in  western  Pennsylvania.  The 
bride  stood  at  the  altar,  and  at  the  last  moment  she  resolved 
to  disobey.  She  broke  loose  from  the  bridal  party,  and  escaped 
from  the  church.  The  bridegroom  turned  to  the  bridesmaid  and 
asked  her,  "WUl  you  marry  me?"  She  said  "Yes,"  and  the 
ceremony  was  performed.  The  fellow  was  a  married  man,  and 
that  night  was  arrested  for  bigamy,  and  later  sentenced  to  a 
term  in  the  penitentiary.  While  I  was  visiting  the  Salvation 
Army  home  for  girls  in  Pittsburgh,  the  matron  told  me  of  an 
inmate,  a  young  Magyar  girl,  who  was  deceived  by  a  country- 
man. He  enticed  her  from  her  parents'  home  in  New  York  City 
under  promise  of  marriage.  He  did  not  marry  her,  and  when  she 
was  with  child  the  fellow  left.  In  a  city  in  Pennsylvania,  a  young 
Italian  paid  attention  to  the  daughter  of  a  native-bom  engineer. 
The  father  in  his  indignation  told  him  that  he  should  not  visit 
the  house,  and  put  him  out.  Within  a  week  the  father  was 
found  dead  in  the  engine  house.  The  lad  made  his  escape,  but 
the  indignation  of  the  people  was  such  that  they  rose  against 
the  ItaUan  colony  and  demanded  that  they  leave  the  city.  An 
immigration  that  is  preponderatingly  male  has  far  more  serious 


HOME  LIFE 


consequences  on  society  than  one  made  of  families,  and  in  this 
respect  the  new  immigration  is  open  to  grave  criticism. 

Foreigners  adopt  New  Standards.  —  The  foreigner  finds  it 
difficult  to  adjust  his  religious  customs  to  our  industrial  system. 
It  is  well  known  that  orthodox  Jews,  employed  by  Christians, 
lose  two  days  in  the  week.  They  won't  work  on  Saturday,  be- 
cause of  conscience'  sake,  and  on  Sunday  they  are  compelled 
to  remain  idle  because  of  the  Christian's  conscience.  A  business 
man  in  a  western  city  told  me  of  some  orthodox  Jews  who  ob- 
served Saturday  as  the  Sabbath  ;  but,  said  he,  "  they  come  quietly 
to  collect  their  bills  on  that  day."  It  was  the  first  step,  under 
economic  pressure,  from  the  orthodox  faith.  During  the  two 
long  annual  fasts  ordained  by  the  Greek  Church  the  men  are 
supposed  to  eat  no  animal  food,  not  even  butter  and  eggs  are 
to  be  touched — linseed  and  olive  oil  being  the  substitutes  ; 
but  men  working  hard  in  mill  and  mine  in  America  cannot  sub- 
sist on  diet  prescribed  for  European  agricultural  workers  under 
no  industrial  strain.  This  immigrant  farm  hand  employed  as 
an  American  wage  earner  must  eat  better  and  richer  food  than 
European  customs,  both  social  and  ecclesiastical,  prescribe,  if  he 
is  to  keep  step  in  the  industrial  army  in  the  United  States. 
This  matter  of  food  concerns  the  foreign-born  housewife  as  much 
as  the  worker.  It  is  a  domestic  question,  and  can  only  be  solved 
when  all  the  members  of  the  home  are  enlisted  in  the  solution. 
Business  reasons  sometimes  influence  a  change  in  diet.  The 
Italians,  as  a  rule,  like  highly  spiced  food  flavored  with  garlic, 
but  the  sons  of  Italy  carrying  on  the  barber  trade  in  the  cities 
of  the  land  know  that  they  will  not  get  the  EngHsh-speaking 
trade  if  they  follow  their  national  taste  for  garlic.  Many 
mothers  give  their  children  black  coffee,  boiled  the  night 
previous,  and  the  little  ones  show  the  effect  in  puffy,  sallow,  and 
anaemic  faces ;  others  feed  them  beer  and  whisky.  Instances 
are  known  of  little  ones  coming  to  public  school  under  the  influ- 
ence of  intoxicants. 

Leaving  Old  Standards.  —  Against  these  abuses  of  childhood 
the  standards  of  American  homes  are  making  their  way.  A 
hundred  agencies  are  besieging  the  foreigner's  home,  and  a 


TEE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


perceptible  change  is  seen  in  many  of  them  ;  they  are  gradually 
rising  to  the  levels  of  those  of  their  EngUsh-speaking  neighbors. 
The  lower  standards  are  most  persistent  in  foreign  colonies  in 
the  East.  The  foreigners  who  move  West  leave  the  standards 
of  the  old  world  far  quicker  than  their  brethren  in  the  cities 
on  the  Atlantic  coast.  The  spirit  of  the  West  is  a  mighty  solvent 
of  national  customs.  An  inteUigent  Lithuanian,  living  in  South 
Omaha,  had  been  a  wage  earner  in  the  mines  of  Pennsylvania. 
I  asked  him  why  he  moved  West;  he  repUed,  "Too  much  kill 
in  the  mines."  One  of  his  sons  was  assessor  of  the  ward,  and 
another  was  in  the  printing  business.  Many  Lithuanians  Uved 
in  that  part  of  the  city,  and  their  homes  were  more  comfortable 
and  cleaner  than  those  of  their  countrymen  in  the  coal  fields  of 
Permsylvania.  If,  however,  the  new  immigrants  from  the  Bal- 
kan States  go  directly  to  the  West,  they  Live  pretty  much  the 
same  as  they  do  in  the  East.  In  St.  Joseph,  near  the  stock- 
yards, there  are  as  dirty  aggregations  of  Roumanians  and  Mace- 
donians as  are  found  anywhere  in  the  land.  In  Armourdale, 
Kans.,  there  are  groups  of  Greeks  and  Croats  Uving  in  as  foul 
quarters  as  are  found  in  the  East.  But  among  the  Pole  and 
Lithuanian,  the  Italian  and  the  Magyar,  who  served  an  appren- 
ticeship in  the  East,  improved  their  economic  status,  and  then 
moved  West,  we  find  a  much  nearer  approach  to  American  stand- 
ards. They  know  some  English,  they  secure  their  own  homes, 
and  their  standard  of  li\-ing  is  much  higher  than  that  of  their 
coimtrymen  in  the  East.  If  the  congested  sections  of  eastern 
cities  where  foreigners  live  could  be  reheved  by  making  it  pos- 
sible for  immigrants  to  move  West,  the  effect  would  be  whole- 
some on  the  ahens  and  gratifying  to  the  nation. 

Americanize  the  Home.  —  WTien  the  foreign-bom  secure  a 
plot  of  ground  and  build  a  house  on  it,  the  process  of  American- 
ization goes  on  very  rapidly.  The  house  may  not  be  much  at 
first,  but  it  calls  out  the  best  that  is  in  the  man,  and  as  he  in- 
creases in  riches  the  house  improves  in  appearance.  Hundreds 
of  foreign-bom  men  of  southeastern  Europe  in  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania  have  built  comfortable  homes  which  will  compare 
favorably  with  those  erected  by  EngUsh-speaking  men  of  the 


HOME  LIFE 


153 


old  immigration.  Thousands  of  such  homes  have  been  built, 
and  their  number  is  annually  increasing.  They  are  hostages 
to  the  nation  —  an  assurance  that  the  immigrants  are  on  their 
way  to  become  full-fledged  Americans.  No  better  instance  of 
this  can  be  found  than  in  Brown  Park,  in  South  Omaha,  which 
has  been  improved  by  the  Bohemians,  Poles,  and  Lithuanians. 
That  which,  a  few  years  ago,  was  a  rolling  prairie,  is  to-day 
studded  with  neat  and  well-kept  homes,  schools,  and  churches, 
having  well-cultivated  gardens  and  flowers,  all  of  which  conform 
to  American  standards  among  the  wage-earning  class.  The 
same  may  be  said  of  the  ItaUans  in  Rockland  County,  N.Y., 
in  Providence,  R.I.,  in  Rosetta,  Pa.,  and  elsewhere.  These 
immigrants  have  their  gardens,  no  matter  what  the  soil  is ; 
they  will  till  them  with  a  care  and  love  that  stands  in  striking  con- 
trast to  the  careless  and  forlorn  appearance  of  properties  owned 
by  many  English-speaking  men  of  the  old  immigration.  One 
of  the  great  hindrances  to  this  process  of  Americanization  of  the 
foreigners  is  the  acquisition  of  property  in  the  neighborhood  of 
large  cities  by  land-holding  companies.  These  grab  up  large 
tracts  of  land  and  keep  them  in  an  unimproved  condition, 
whereas,  if  they  were  sold  on  reasonable  terms  to  foreigners,they 
would  blossom  as  a  garden  and  produce  food  for  the  millions  in 
congested  cities.  The  Poles  on  the  abandoned  farms  of  New 
England,  the  Italians  on  the  swamps  of  New  Jersey,  the  Portu- 
guese on  Cape  Cod,  have  shown  what  they  can  do  under  con- 
ditions which  drove  "white  folks"  from  these  holdings.  These 
alien  lovers  of  the  soil,  by  persistent  toil  and  careful  living,  have 
made  the  earth  yield  wealth  which  crystallized  into  homes  and 
barns,  horses  and  cattle.  They  raised  large  and  healthy  families 
as  loyal  to  the  Union  as  any  found  in  America.  And  can  there 
be  a  better  use  made  of  superfluous  wealth,  much  of  which  is 
spent  in  very  questionable  forms  for  the  uplift  of  the  lower  tenth, 
than  to  open  up  rural  communities,  establish  villages,  where 
the  tillers  of  the  soil  from  Europe  may  have  a  chance  to  reclaim 
land  which  has  been  inconsiderately  exploited  by  previous  gen- 
erations ? 

Owning  Homes.  —  These  men  are  worthy  of  help.    They  have 


154 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


the  old  virtue  of  thrift  well  developed,  and  they  invest  their 
money  in  homes  in  America.  Real  estate  agents  in  the  North 
Atlantic  and  Central  states  say  that  the  foreigners  are  the  only 
ones  who  save  money.  Wherever  they  are  given  a  fair  chance 
to  secure  homes  they  rapidly  avail  themselves  of  it,  and  invest. 
The  investigation  of  the  Immigration  Commission  in  cities 
as  to  the  percentage  of  the  foreign-born  owning  homes  shows 
the  following :  4.2  per  cent  of  the  native-born  of  native  parentage 
owned  their  homes,  but  the  percentage  of  native-born  of  foreign 
parentage  was  11,  and  that  of  the  foreign-born  10.4.^  We  have 
seen  that  the  lowest  wage  is  paid  the  foreign-born,  and  yet  the 
number  of  these  famiUes  owning  their  homes  is  more  than 
double  that  of  families  of  native-born  parentage.  These  fig- 
ures show  how  strong  the  love  for  home  is  in  the  immigrant 
and  how  anxious  he  is  to  give  protection  to  his  family.  They 
have  made  good  use  of  their  opportunity  in  the  new  world  ;  and 
we  are  safe  in  saying  that  the  men  of  the  new  immigration  will 
not  be  behind  those  of  the  old  in  this  respect. 

Homes  Transformed.  —  Commvmities  of  foreigners  will 
respond  to  higher  ideals  if  the  right  influences  are  brought  to 
bear  upon  them.  Three  years  ago,  a  town  of  2500  souls  in  west- 
ern Pennsylvania  was  as  hopeless  a  place  as  any  ever  popu- 
lated by  "  Hunkies."  When  the  man  in  control  of  affairs  was 
asked  for  the  use  of  the  schoolhouse,  he  turned  and  said  :  "  What's 
the  use  —  you  can  do  nothing  with  that  kind  of  people  —  the 
only  thing  for  them  is  a  club."  When  the  truant  officer  was 
consulted  as  to  the  possibility  of  doing  anything  for  the  people, 
he  said :  "  Hunkeyville  is  drunk  half  the  time."  The  first 
night  workers  went  into  the  town,  special  deputies  were  assigned 
to  watch  and  see  that  no  harm  was  done.  Every  English-speak- 
ing man  who  had  anything  to  do  with  that  community  regarded 
the  foreigners  as  a  lost  hope.  They  saw  no  goodness  in  them ; 
they  were  despised,  they  were  consigned  to  the  de\'il.  The 
night  welfare  work  began,  the  people  were  kind  and  courteous; 
not  an  insulting  word  was  heard  on  the  street,  no  man  or  woman 

1  See  Immigration  Commission's  Abstract  of  Report  on  "  Immigrants  in  Cities," 
p.  36. 


HOME  LIFE 


155 


behaved  indecently.  Three  years  have  passed,  and  the  com- 
munity is  changed.  Those  who  knew  it  three  years  ago  cannot 
say  that  it  is  now  the  same  town.  The  streets  and  alleys  are 
clean.  The  lawns  before  the  homes  are  sodded,  and  trees  have 
been  planted.  More  and  more  are  flowers  planted  around  the 
houses,  and  the  gardens  are  cared  for  as  never  before.  The 
men  responded  last  summer  to  the  request  of  the  leader  to  grade 
a  plot  where  the  little  ones  can  play,  and  the  man  who  said 
"  what's  the  use  "  has  revised  his  judgment,  and  is  putting  money 
into  swings  and  apparatus  for  the  boys  to  play.  The  mothers 
and  children  are  neater  and  happier.  Drink  is  not  abolished,  but 
the  jamborees  that  made  "Hunkeyville  drunk  half  the  time" 
have  ceased.  They  have  developed  a  community  conscience, 
and  take  pride  in  the  town  ;  they  are  anxious  to  keep  it  up  to  a 
standard  that  means  moral  and  physical  health.  What  was 
done  in  "  Hunkeyville  "  can  be  done  in  every  community 
where  the  foreigners  live.  In  communities  where  single  men 
live  in  large  numbers,  special  treatment  is  needed  ;  but  in  com- 
munities where  the  new  immigrants  attempt  home  life,  all  they 
need  is  leadership  —  sympathetic,  strong,  patient,  and  self- 
abnegating,  and  they  will  respond.  Leave  this  simple,  confiding 
child  of  nature  to  the  selfish,  grasping,  degenerating  influence  of 
booze  and  profanity,  and  he  quickly  copies  all  that  is  degrading ; 
give  him  a  chance  to  copy  the  decent  and  healthful  in  strong 
men  and  women  of  the  right  type,  and  there  is  not  a  field  in  the 
country  where  kindness  and  wholesome  example  will  bring 
quicker  and  more  gratifying  results. 


CHAPTER  XI 


CITIES  WHERE  THEY  GATHER 

The  stream  of  immigrants  coming  through  Ellis  Island  ever 
reminds  me  of  a  river  flowing  into  the  ocean.  The  waters  come 
from  various  sections,  forming  here  rivulets,  there  tributaries, 
and  yonder  mountain  creeks,  but  all  converging  into  one  mighty 
stream  that  loses  itself  in  the  sea.  So  does  this  stream  of  immi- 
gration, gathered  from  many  lands,  bury  itself  in  the  human 
mass  of  this  continent.  No  sooner  are  they  landed  than  they 
scatter.  The  railroads  and  boats  take  them  into  various  parts 
of  the  country,  but  the  territory  where  nearly  70  per  cent  of  them 
go  is  well  defined  —  they  are  destined  to  the  New  England  states, 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  Illinois.  The 
territory  in  New  England,  into  which  most  immigrants  go,  are 
the  states  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut ; 
the  other  states  included  in  this  geographical  division  have  few 
foreign-speaking  people,  and  the  number  going  there  is  small  — 
excepting  a  few  cities  such  as  Manchester,  Nashua,  and  Berlin 
in  New  Hampshire,  the  marble  quarries  of  Vermont,  and  the 
lumber  camps  of  Maine.  If  a  line  is  drawn  from  the  northwest- 
ern corner  of  Minnesota  to  the  southwestern  corner  of  Illinois, 
and  then  eastward  to  the  Atlantic,  passing  between  the  cities 
of  Washington  and  Baltimore,  we  cut  off  less  than  one-fifth  of 
the  area  of  the  United  States,  but  in  it  is  found  more  than  80 
per  cent  of  the  new  imm.igration.  This  may  be  called  the  zone 
of  the  new  immigration.  The  remaining  16  or  17  per  cent  is 
divided  between  the  Southern  states  and  those  west  of  the  west- 
ern boundary  of  our  angle.  A  Uttle  more  than  3  per  cent  is 
found  in  the  South,  and  a  fraction  over  13  per  cent  is  found  on 
the  Pacific  Slope  and  in  the  western  and  Rocky  Mountain 
states. 

156 


158 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


The  Industrial  Zone.  —  What  may  be  called  the  industrial 
zone  of  America  is  also  within  the  above  angle.  The  workshop 
of  the  United  States  is  in  the  territory  cut  off  by  the  lines  above 
suggested.  In  eleven  of  the  states  from  55  to  75  per  cent  of 
the  male  workers  are  employed  in  industrial  pursuits.  There 
are  important  manufacturing  centers  outside  this  area,  such 
as  the  cotton  mills  of  North  Carolina,  the  steel  industry  of 
Alabama,  the  mining  interests  of  the  Northwest  and  the  South- 
west, and  the  industrial  activity  of  Colorado  ;  but  these  are  insig- 
nificant as  compared  with  the  mining,  iron,  and  steel  industries 
of  Pennsylvania,  the  manufacturing  of  Rhode  Island  and  Massa- 
chusetts, the  commercial  importance  of  New  York,  Boston, 
Buffalo,  and  Chicago.  More  than  80  per  cent  of  all  the  coal 
mined  in  the  Union  is  dug  in  this  territory.  More  than  90  per 
cent  of  all  the  iron  and  steel  products  of  the  country  is  pro- 
duced here,  while  the  great  throb  of  commerce  in  the  ports  north 
of  the  Potomac,  on  the  lakes  and  by  rail  in  the  great  industrial 
centers,  is  felt  here  more  than  in  any  other  section  of  the  land. 
We  have  in  the  Union  fifty  cities  of  100,000  and  more  population, 
and  thirty-two  of  these  are  in  the  territory  under  consideration. 
These  cities  are  the  industrial  hives  whence  manufacturing  prod- 
ucts are  sent  in  a  continuous  stream  to  enrich  this  and  other 
nations  of  the  earth.  Around  these  flourishing  centers  of  popu- 
lation, raised  as  by  the  wave  of  a  magician's  wand,  satellite  cities 
are  rapidly  growing  where  giant  industries  are  taking  root,  in 
hope  that  the  industrial  supremacy  of  this  area  may  still  be  main- 
tained for  coming  generations.  The  one  great  factor  that  has 
made  possible  the  industrial  development  of  this  part  of  the 
United  States  is  the  inflow  of  80  per  cent  of  the  new  immigra- 
tion coming  to  America.  The  brawn  and  sinew  of  the  peoples 
of  the  plains  of  the  Danube,  the  Carpathian  Mountains,  southern 
Russia,  the  Balkan  States,  and  the  Italian  peninsula  have  been 
freely  drawn  upon  to  man  mine  and  mill,  shop  and  factory, 
railroad  and  lumber  camp,  and  never  did  any  civilized  nation 
get  an  army  of  more  docile,  industrious,  and  efficient  workers, 
to  be  yoked  to  the  industrial  organization  perfected  by  American 
ingenuity. 


CITIES  WHERE  THEY  GATHER 


Foreigners  in  Every  City.  —  The  foreigners  are  in  every  city 
in  this  angle,  not  equally  distributed,  by  any  means,  but  present 
in  every  one  of  them.  Some  of  the  cities,  such  as  Albany  and 
Harrisburg,  the  Springfields  of  Illinois  and  Massachusetts,  are 
not  important  industrial  centers  ;  and  yet  the  foreigners  are 
there  in  domestic  service,  in  hotels,  around  public  buildings  and 
private  estates,  in  barber  shops  and  shoe-shining  parlors,  doing 
the  chores  in  saloons  and  stations,  conducting  fruit  stands  and 
candy  stores,  restaurants  and  pool  rooms,  repairing  shoes  and 
pressing  clothes,  etc.  In  urban  commimities  in  this  section  of 
the  country,  you  may  as  well  try  to  escape  the  air  you  breathe  as 
to  escape  the  foreigner.  On  the  business  streets  of  industrial 
towns  on  a  Sautrday  night,  the  clatter  of  foreign  tongues  is 
everywhere  heard.  On  the  streets  of  industrial  centers  in  New 
England  aroimd  which  the  most  precious  memories  in  American 
history  associate,  a  cosmopolitan  mass  moves  to  and  fro  in  the 
shadow  of  monuments  erected  to  the  memory  of  men  of  glorious 
achievements.  If  men  who  knew  Holyoke,  New  Bedford,  Man- 
chester, Bridgeport,  etc.,  fifty  years  ago,  were  to  walk  the 
thronged  streets  of  these  mill  towns  on  a  pay  night,  they  would 
imagine  themselves  in  a  port  city  of  the  old  world,  and  not  on 
sacred  ground  trodden  by  the  feet  of  the  Puritan  Fathers.  Law- 
rence, Mass.,  is  typical  of  the  changes  that  have  taken  place  in 
every  industrial  center  into  which  the  foreigners  have  come. 
The  following  is  a  comparison  of  population  in  this  city  for  1848 
and  at  present.^ 

1848  igio 

Americans.    .    .    .  3750  or  63.3  %  Americans   .    .    .   12,000  or  14.  i  % 

Irish   2139  or  36.0  %  Old  Immigration  .   52,000  or  61. i  % 

All  Other  Whites    .  34  or     .7%  New  Immigration  .   21,000  or  24.8  % 

Total  ....  5923    100.  %  Total    ...    85  ,000    100.  % 

This  onrush  of  Continental  nations  into  territory  that  is  sacred 
to  the  memory  of  men  who  laid  down  the  foundation  of  this 
republic  has  changed  New  England  and  given  it  a  cosmopolitan 
character  which  seriously  concerns  every  patriot  in  this  part  of 
our  country. 

*  See  Table  XIII  in  addenda. 


i6o 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


Foreigners  Colonize.  —  In  every  city  the  tendency  of  the 
foreigners  is  to  colonization.  The  units  cohere,  the  mass  crys- 
tallizes, and  stands  apart  from  other  elements  of  the  population. 
It  is  a  process  of  segregation.  A  nucleus  comes  from  Europe 
and  takes  up  a  house ;  other  groups,  coming  from  the  same  vil- 
lage or  province,  gather  around  this  center ;  it  grows,  pushing  out 
the  former  occupants  of  the  block,  working  ever  from  the  inner 
courts  and  alleys  out  to  the  main  streets  or  avenues,  until  at 
length  the  block  becomes  preponderatingly  foreign,  and  stands 
there,  as  related  to  the  city,  like  a  flint  surrounded  by  a  bed  of 
chalk.  It  is  seldom  that  all  the  block  is  taken  up  by  one  people, 
although  it  may  be  known  as  Hungarian,  ItaUan,  Hebrew,  etc. 
Take  the  following  enumeration  of  a  block  in  South  Chicago, 
and  it  is  typical  of  those  in  foreign  colonies  in  large  cities :  — 

Servians   354    Slovenians   8 

Croatians   204    Germans   8 

Montenegrins   57    Hungarians   8 

Hebrews   27    Russians   S 

Macedonians   22    Roumanians   4 

Bulgarians   18    Lithuanians   3 

Irish   14   French   i 

Total   ^33 

In  this  complex  population  there  were  123  children,  87  women, 
and  523  men.  In  every  colony  there  is  a  residuum  of  the  older 
residents,  the  ones  who  could  or  would  not  get  out,  men  who 
found  it  more  in  line  with  their  tastes  or  purposes  to  tarry  with 
the  foreigners  and  pose  as  representatives  of  America  —  a  re- 
lationship imfortunate  both  to  themselves  and  the  new  residents. 
The  agents  of  the  Immigration  Commission,  when  studying 
congestion  among  recent  immigrants  in  seven  cities,  found  it 
difficult  to  locate  a  crowded  block  having  "  racial  uniformity." 
When  they  thought  they  had  what  they  were  looking  for,  they 
found  on  closer  study  "  families  of  other  races  "  which  they  had 
to  omit  in  the  study  in  order  that  data  having  "  racial  homogene- 
ity "  might  be  compiled.  Foreign  colonies  resemble  a  field  ;  one 
growth  —  be  it  of  wheat,  rye,  or  millet  —  gives  it  its  character, 
but  on  close  inspection  we  find  much  else  growing  there  also. 
The  Jew  is  the  natural  complement  of  the  PoUsh,  Ruthenian, 


CITIES  WHERE  THEY  GATHER 


i6i 


Lithuanian,  Roumanian,  etc.,  immigration,  and  he  is  invaria- 
bly found  in  a  foreign  block.  Thousands  of  English-speaking 
saloon-keepers  have  found  their  property  appreciating  amid  the 
general  depreciation  because  of  the  invasion  of  the  new  immi- 
grant ;  they  retained  the  property  and  stayed  there  to  reap  a 
golden  harvest.  Other  English-speaking  peoples  have  retained 
property  in  sections  where  immigrants  settle,  adapted  the  houses 
to  the  needs  of  the  newcomers,  and  have  more  than  doubled  their 
income.  Political  aspirants  also  have  found  it  to  their  advantage 
to  stay  in  the  ward  that  is  fast  changing  and  dominate  its  politi- 
cal interests.  These  men  have  made  friends  of  the  foreigners 
and  have  come  to  like  them  as  neighbors  ;  all  the  varied  interests 
ruling  the  lives  of  men  come  into  play,  and  the  English-speaking 
have  not  been  slack  to  turn  their  superior  knowledge  and  expe- 
rience into  profit. 

Foreigners  entering  a  Block.  —  Many  changes  take  place 
when  the  foreigners  come  into  a  block.  The  EngUsh-speaking 
do  their  best  to  keep  them  out,  but  some  one  wants  to  sell  and 
gets  more  for  his  property  from  a  foreigner  than  from  a  "  white 
man,"  and  the  highest  bidder  gets  it.  In  a  section  of  Pitts- 
burgh, the  "Ginnies  "  rent  the  houses  in  the  alleys  which  are 
vacated  by  the  English-speaking  residents ;  not  long  after  the 
"  white  folks  "  in  the  houses  facing  the  street  imagine  that 
strong  odors  crawl  over  the  fence,  strains  of  weird  music, 
so  very  different  from  that  they  are  accustomed  to,  are  heard ; 
men  sing  and  the  songs  die  away  about  midnight  —  they  can't 
stand  it  and  out  they  go.  Then  begins  a  remodeling  of  the 
houses  —  many  cunning  devices  are  introduced,  for  the  for- 
eigners "love  to  crowd."  A  house  occupied  by  one  or  two 
famiUes  is  arranged  to  accommodate  five  or  eight  families  of  for- 
eigners. A  section  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  was  twenty  years  ago 
occupied  by  the  native-born.  The  Italians  are  in  possession  of 
it  to-day.  One  of  the  residences  was  being  remodeled  a  year  ago. 
It  was  a  good  house,  built  of  sandstone,  occupied  by  one  family, 
but  when  rearranged  five  Italian  families  moved  in.  Three 
people  occupied  the  house  before  the  exodus,  now  thirty  souls 
are  in  it.    A  wagon  upon  which  a  load  three  times  the  weight  it 


l62 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


was  designed  to  carrj'  is  placed  generally  breaks  down,  and  so 
does  a  house  built  for  one  family  when  occupied  by  five.  The 
plumbing  soon  shows  the  strain,  the  hallways  become  recep- 
tacles for  all  trash,  the  stairways  get  out  of  order,  the  yards  are 
filled  with  rubbish,  the  gate  and  fence  break  down,  and  the  city 
authorities  add  to  the  process  of  dilapidation  by  conniving  at 
conditions  in  sections  where  the  "  Dagoes  "  live.  The  result  is 
that  a  street  which  once  was  a  pleasure  to  behold,  and  homes 
that  were  a  joy  to  the  occupants,  become  eyesores,  and  we 
all  say  the  "  dirty  foreigners."'  Few  of  us  think  of  the  greedy 
landlord,  the  indifferent  Board  of  Health,  the  indolent  street 
cleaner,  and  the  absence  of  the  garbage  man.  About  70  per  cent 
of  these  people,  as  before  stated,  lived  on  farms  before  they  came 
to  America,  and  to  put  them  down  in  a  crowded  city  is  like  trans- 
planting tropical  plants  to  temperate  regions :  they  exist,  but 
are  far  from  flourishing. 

From  Country  to  City.  —  A  foreigner  wrote  to  the  New  York 
Survey  saying  :  "  Scientific  teachers  should  instruct  foreigners  how 
to  live  in  tenements :  the  use  of  gas,  the  disposal  of  garbage 
and  refuse,  the  use  of  plumbing,  of  pulley  clothes  lines  and  fire 
escapes  ;  the  rules  regulating  school  attendance  and  vaccination  ; 
how  to  secure  birth  certificates  and  working  papers."  That  is 
a  voice  crying  in  the  wilderness  of  the  tenements  in  New  York 
City,  and  it  represents  millions  of  inarticulate,  wretched  aliens, 
who  in  ignorance  and  helplessness  are  groping  in  the  dark, 
doing  their  best  to  Uve  under  conditions  that  mean  discomfort, 
suffering,  and  death.  I  once  xdsited  a  school  on  the  East  Side 
of  New  York  City  where  foreigners  were  learning  EngUsh.  The 
teacher  asked  one  of  the  pupils  to  form  a  sentence  using  the  word 
"  beautiful,"  and  he  falteringly  said,  "  How  beautiful  is  the 
country."  Was  it  an  accident?  No,  that  yoimg  soul,  trans- 
planted from  where  the  trees  blossomed  and  the  grass  grew, 
from  where  the  flowers  bloomed  and  the  birds  sang,  to  acres  of 
brick  walls  and  no  trees,  miles  of  asphalt  pavement  and  no  green 
grass,  myriads  of  harsh  noises  but  no  song  of  the  birds,  felt  a 
longing  that  was  like  that  of  lost  soiils  in  Inferno  yearning  for 
the  light  of  the  sim.    Laura  B.  Garrett,  writing  about  the  Poles 


CITIES  WHERE  THEY  GATHER 


of  Baltimore,  tells  how  they  love  the  birds,  and  that  many  brightly 
colored  songsters  are  in  cages  hanging  by  their  windows,  and  adds  : 
"  One  of  the  saddest  sounds  of  the  district  is  the  whistle  and  call 
of  these  birds."  That  is  true,  but  a  still  sadder  thing  is  the  sup- 
pressed agony  of  these  thousands  of  souls  who  try  to  bring  a  wee 
bit  of  nature  into  their  homes  by  imprisoning  the  songsters  to 
revive  the  memories  of  rural  scenes  of  boyhood  days.  These 
brave  souls  long  "  for  fresh  air  and  sunlight  and  freedom,"  and 
city  life  to  thousands  of  them  is  an  imprisonment  from  which 
they  long  to  be  delivered.  If  they  knew  how  to  get  to  the  land, 
they  would  gladly  leave  the  crowded  tenements.  A  Slav  walked 
on  the  Common  in  Boston,  saw  the  tame  squirrels,  and  playing 
with  one  of  them,  he  caught  it  and  put  it  in  his  pocket.  A 
"cop"  saw  him,  brought  him  before  the  mayor,  and  the  poor 
fellow  had  to  pay  $25  fine.  Of  course  it  is  necessary  to  protect 
parks  and  the  squirrels;  but  did  the  "cop  "  and  the  "  judge  " 
think  for  a  moment  that  here  was  a  lad  raised  in  the  country,  and 
when  he  saw  a  bit  of  it  in  the  heart  of  Boston,  possibly  for  the 
first  time,  he  thought  of  home  and  the  days  of  boyhood,  and 
how  nice  it  would  be  to  get  something  in  that  tenement  around 
which  this  love  of  nature  could  crystallize  —  the  squirrel  would 
do  it,  —  and  the  "  cop  "  cured  him  of  his  weakness.  The  city 
has  no  place  for  the  god  of  nature  —  the  god  of  the  dollar  is 
enshrined  there,  and  the  foreigner  soon  learns  it. 

Processes  of  Graft  in  Cities.  —  The  city  does  not  improve  the 
foreigner.  Rousseau  said,  "  Cities  are  the  graves  of  the  human 
species  "  ;  our  cities  are  the  graves  of  much  that  is  good  and  vir- 
tuous in  the  foreigner  as  he  comes  to  us  with  the  smell  of  the 
heather  on  his  garments.  When  this  helpless,  inarticulate 
mass  of  foreigners  invades  a  section  of  our  cities,  the  birds  of 
prey  —  both  foreign  and  native-born  —  are  there  to  feed  upon 
their  ignorance,  weakness,  and  vanity.  When  visiting  one  of 
these  hives  where  foreigners  live,  the  people  took  me  for  a  physi- 
cian, and  led  me  to  a  room,  made  out  of  a  section  of  an  old  hall- 
way, dark  and  ^\^thout  ventilation,  and  on  the  bed  I  saw  a  young 
woman  in  the  prime  of  life,  raging  in  the  grip  of  typhoid  fever. 
There  was  no  hope  for  that  poor  soul ;  and  she  represented  thou- 


164 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


sands  of  foreigners  who  have  been  killed  in  our  congested  cities 
by  contaminated  water,  supplied  either  by  greedy  corporations 
that  put  money  before  men  or  by  inefficient  municipalities 
manned  by  political  parasites.  A  foreigner  in  Boston  com- 
plained to  a  friend  of  mine  that  he  had  to  pay  a  bonus  every 
month  to  the  foreman  else  he  had  "  no  show  "  in  the  shop. 
This  was  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  superintendent,  who  was 
a  native-born  and  a  Christian  ;  but  he  would  not  believe  it,  and 
said  to  my  friend :  "  The  foreigner  lies —  they  are  liars  anyway," 
and  that  foreman  continues  his  system  of  piracy.  In  a  strike 
in  Brooklyn,  in  which  the  foreigners  to  a  man  were  involved, 
two  men  came  to  union  headquarters  with  bandaged  heads. 
I  asked,  "  What's  the  matter  with  these  men?  "  "  They  were 
clubbed  yesterday  on  the  public  highway  near  the  works," 
was  the  reply.  The  proprietor  of  the  works  involved,  when  dis- 
cussing with  another  gentleman  the  rights  of  the  foreigners,  took 
a  big  wrench  in  his  hand  and  said,  "  Their  right  is  this,  and  this 
they'll  get."  That  man  was  a  native-born  of  good  native-born 
blood,  but  he  had  drifted  far  from  the  spirit  of  the  men  of  '76. 
When  a  foreigner  wants  a  license  to  sell  anything  in  the  city  he  has 
to  pave  the  way  green,  and  when  he  knocks  at  the  door  of  the 
court  for  admission  into  privileges  of  citizenship,  it  opens  in 
crowded  cities  to  the  man  who  tickles  the  palm  of  the  door- 
keeper. Wherever  the  law  of  the  land  places  an  obstruction 
in  the  pathway  of  the  foreigner,  it  becomes  an  occasion  of  graft. 
The  Chinese  are  shut  out  as  a  nation,  and  the  few  who  pass  the 
gateway  must  submit  to  have  their  pictures  taken  for  filing  pur- 
poses as  we  do  with  criminals.  In  Fall  River,  there  are  some 
Chinese,  and  one  day  two  men  came  into  the  city  —  deputy  mar- 
shals of  the  federal  government — to  inspect  the  landing  licenses 
of  the  Chinese  of  the  town.  Consternation  seized  every  member 
of  the  group  ;  those  who  feared  the  test  tried  to  escape,  but  six 
men  were  cast  into  custody  —  they  could  not  show  a  properly 
certified  landing  license.  The  deputies  early  the  following  morn- 
ing took  their  prisoners  from  the  cells,  liberated  them,  and  left 
town  with  about  $3000  —  they  had  worked  the  Chinese,  and 
many  good  people  in  that  Christian  community  think  to  this  day 


CITIES  WHERE  THEY  GATHER 


that  it  was  a  good  joke  on  the  foreigners.  When  I  protested 
to  a  semi-official  whose  duty  it  was  to  guard  the  foreigners  from 
exploitation,  he  said  :  "  You  go  to  their  country  —  they'll  do 
the  same  to  you."  This  innocent  farm  hand  in  our  cities  is 
dealt  with  by  a  different  ethical  code  from  that  applied  to  "  white 
folks."  Is  it  strange  that  he  cherishes  resentment  in  his  soul, 
that  he  does  not  think  America  a  Christian  nation,  that  he 
believes  the  god  of  the  dollar  supreme  and  that  he  will  reach 
Elysium  when  he  also  gets  his  pile  ? 

No  English  means  DiflSculties.  —  The  ignorance  of  the  for- 
eigner is  often  the  occasion  of  great  suffering  and  privation.  A 
young  foreign-speaking  woman  was  taken  into  the  home  of  a 
foreigner  and  hired  out  to  service.  She  was  paid  $4  a  week :  for 
five  days  she  went  out  to  wash  and  turned  in  her  earnings  to  her 
lord  ;  on  the  remaining  two  days  she  did  the  washing  and  clean- 
ing in  the  house  of  her  benefactor.  She  had  to  sleep  in  the 
cellar,  which  contained  the  only  accommodation  for  the  neces- 
sities of  seven  men  who  boarded  in  that  house.  The  woman  was 
helpless  in  the  grip  of  that  vampire  until  a  foreign-born  health 
officer  happened  to  get  knowledge  of  the  case,  found  out  the  sit- 
uation, and  liberated  the  victim.  A  doctor,  called  to  attend  a 
foreigner  in  one  of  our  large  cities,  charged  him  $10  for  the  visit. 
The  physician  gave  him  some  pills,  and  wrote  in  English  the 
instruction  how  to  take  the  medicine.  The  man  did  not  know 
that  language,  and  there  was  no  one  to  read  those  hieroglyphics. 
Being  a  foreigner,  he  did  not  know  anything  about  taking  medi- 
cine —  he  knew  it  was  to  be  taken,  and  so  swallowed  the  con- 
tents of  the  box  at  once,  which  well-nigh  proved  fatal.  A  man 
and  his  wife  who  occupied  two  rooms  in  one  of  the  tenements  of 
New  York  City  lost  their  only  child.  When  death  came,  they 
were  helpless,  they  did  not  know  what  to  do.  The  only  thing 
they  thought  of  was  to  call  in  the  police  officer  and  give  him  the 
little  body.  Was  it  heartless?  No,  it  was  poverty  and  igno- 
rance. We  hear  much  of  the  hoarding  of  the  foreigners,  we  sel- 
dom hear  of  their  suffering  —  suffering  incident  to  getting  a 
foothold  in  a  land  whose  tongue  is  wholly  different  from  their 
own,  and  in  an  atmosphere  that  is  hostile  if  not  antagonistic. 


i66 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


An  educated  Magyar  came  to  one  of  our  cities  with  a  wife  and 
three  little  children.  He  had  to  work  for  $1.30  a  day.  It  was 
hard  living,  but  when  he  lost  that  job  and  could  not  find  another, 
the  struggle  was  too  much  for  his  wife  —  she  broke  down  and  be- 
came insane.  She  was  removed  to  a  hospital  and  became  a  public 
charge,  then  the  authorities  started  proceedings  for  deportation, 
and  back  to  Hungary  the  five  were  sent  —  not  as  they  came. 

The  Family  Income.  —  The  Immigration  Commission  foimd 
that  the  average  income  per  annum  of  foreign-born  husbands 
living  in  cities  was  $452.  The  man  and  his  family  must  live  on 
$1.50  a  day,  and  45  per  cent  of  the  men  studied  had  to  keep  house 
on  $400  a  year.  From  this  wage  they  must  pay  each  month 
an  average  of  $2.86  per  room  for  rent,  which  consumes  fully 
one-fourth  of  the  family  income.  Under  these  conditions  it  is 
impossible  for  the  foreigner  to  keep  the  wolf  from  the  door  un- 
less the  income  is  supplemented  by  the  rent  paid  by  boarders 
or  the  earnings  of  the  wife  and  children.  The  Immigration  Com- 
mission tells  us  that  38  per  cent  of  the  foreign-born  families 
depend  wholly  upon  the  earnings  of  the  heads  of  the  homes, 
as  against  60.3  per  cent  of  native-born  families  ;  62  per  cent  of 
the  families  of  foreign-born  must  be  supplemented  in  one  way 
or  another.  WhUe  interviewing  the  chief  ofiicer  of  a  charity 
organization  in  a  large  city,  I  asked  :  "  Do  the  foreign-speaking 
often  call  for  help  ?  "  "  No,"  was  his  reply.  "  If  the  father  works 
regularly  they  keep  going,  but  if  he  is  sick  or  injured,  then  they 
come."  ^  Nothing  between  them  and  contingency.  Foreign- 
born  families  walk  in  sight  of  the  last  dollar,  and  sometimes  out 
of  sight  of  it.  When  an  Italian  in  court  was  questioned  about 
his  income  and  expenditure,  he  said  :  "  Can't  save,  girls  want 
much  in  America."  We  hear  often  that  these  people  are  loath 
to  call  in  the  physician  in  cases  of  sickness  ;  what  wonder  is  it  ? 

'  Of  the  charity  seekers  investigated  by  the  Immigration  Commission  in  forty- 
three  cities,  38.3  per  cent  belonged  to  the  foreign-born,  10.7  to  the  native-born  of 
foreign  parentage,  and  50.S  to  the  native-bom  of  native  parentage.  In  fifteen  of 
the  cities  in  the  immigration  zone,  from  50  to  67  per  cent  of  the  cases  were  foreign- 
bom.  The  Commission  gives  no  figures  as  to  the  percentages  of  foreign-born  in 
these  cities,  but  the  census  of  1900  gives  us  an  average  of  34  per  cent.  Among  the 
foreign-born  the  members  of  the  old  immigration  form  75  per  cent  of  all  cases. 
—  See  Abstract  of  Report  on  "Immigrants  as  Charity  Seekers,"  pp.  16  f. 


CITIES  WHERE  THEY  GATHER 


167 


If  the  foreigner  consults  a  physician  in  a  first-class  city,  it  costs 
him  from  $2  to  $5,  and  if  he  asks  him  to  come  to  his  home,  it 
will  be  from  $3  to  $10 :  two  days',  or  possibly  a  weeks',  pay  to 
this  poor  man.  Hence  if  any  member  of  the  family  is  sick,  they  re- 
sort to  patent  medicines,  liniments,  plasters  —  anything  to  avoid 
the  visit  of  the  doctor.  This  low  annual  income  also  explains  the 
anxiety  of  these  people  to  send  their  children  to  work  so  that  their 
earnings  may  make  the  struggle  for  subsistence  a  little  easier. 
Does  it  not  explain  the  crowding  of  foreigners  in  a  few  rooms  ? 
Families  that  live  within  sight  of  the  starvation  line  have  to 
calculate  carefully  how  to  make  the  best  use  of  the  dollar. 

Defectives  and  Dependents.  —  The  immigrants  form  a  large 
percentage  of  the  population  in  hospitals  and  institutions  for 
defectives  and  dependents.  The  figures  collected  by  the  Im- 
migration Commission  and  by  the  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor  bring  out  this  fact  very  clearly.  A  study  of  the 
charity  hospitals  of  New  York  City  showed  that  52.3  per  cent 
of  the  cases  were  of  foreign-born  persons,  and  28.5  per  cent  were 
native-born,  but  of  foreign  parentage.  The  new  immigration 
furnished  37.5  per  cent  of  the  foreign-born  cases,  while  the  men 
of  the  old  immigration  comprised  62.5.^  The  figures  from  insti- 
tutions and  asylums  for  the  insane  and  feeble-minded  show  also 
that  the  inmates  of  the  old  immigration  far  exceed  those  of  the 
new,  the  percentages  being  76.8  and  23.2  respectively;  and  of 
the  total  population  in  these  institutions  in  continental  United 
States,  60.4  per  cent  were  native-born,  10.5  were  native-born  of 
foreign  parentage,  and  29.1  were  foreign-born.^  The  percentage 
of  foreign-born  persons  in  these  institutions  is  higher  than  in 
the  population,  but  we  should  expect  it  so,  just  as  we  expect  to 
find  in  these  places  a  larger  percentage  of  industrial  workers 
than  any  other  class  in  the  population.^   The  foreigners  work 

'See  Abstract  of  Report  on  "Immigration  in  Charity  Hospitals,"  pp.  8  f. 

'  See  Abstract  of  Report  on  "  Immigrants  and  Insanity,"  pp.  15-20. 

'  "The  non-English  speaking  Poles  and  Bohemians  .  .  .  are  the  scapegoats 
of  the  whole  metallic  manufacturing  industry.  Their  sick  and  disabled  make 
them  the  leading  nationalities  in  our  dispensaries,  county  hospitals,  and  other 
charitable  institutions."  "The  Brass  Moulder's  Secret,  "  E.  R.  Hayhurst,  M.D., 
Survey,  Sept.  23,  1911,  p.  881. 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


in  dangerous  places,  get  the  lowest  wage,  suffer  from  intermit- 
tent labor,  and  many  of  them  are  under  a  serious  strain  in  the 
conflict  for  subsistence.  In  an  investigation  conducted  into  the 
causes  of  dependence  among  the  foreign-born,  59.8  per  cent 
was  due  to  lack  of  employment ;  30.2  per  cent  due  to  the  death 
or  disability  of  the  bread  winner ;  while  they  fall  below  the 
native-born  by  five  points  under  the  heading  "  bad  habits."  ^ 

Boarders  and  Lodgers.  —  The  married  men  of  the  new 
immigration  accompanied  by  their  wives  keep  boarders ;  but 
many,  as  before  stated,  live  in  stag  boarding  houses.  The 
Immigration  Commission  found  70  per  cent  of  the  Lithuanian 
families  having  boarders,  47  of  the  Magyars,  42  of  the  North 
Italians,  41  of  the  Slovaks,  and  37  of  the  Slovenians.  But  when 
it  comes  to  the  study  of  Greeks  and  Servians  we  are  told  that  only 
18  per  cent  of  the  former  and  27  of  the  latter  keep  boarders. 
This  would  imply  that  conditions  among  these  two  last  peoples 
are  far  better  than  among  the  Lithuanians  or  the  Poles  with 
35  per  cent  of  the  households  ha\dng  boarders  ;  but  any  one  ac- 
quainted with  the  problem  knows  that  the  contrary  is  the  case. 
The  Commission  investigated  to  discover  what  congestion  there 
was  among  the  members  of  this  new  immigration,  and  for  this 
purpose  took  families  in  certain  blocks  in  seven  cities,  selecting 
racial  groups  from  among  the  old  and  new  immigration  for  com- 
parison. Among  the  racial  groups  of  the  new  immigration,  we 
look  in  vain  for  the  Bulgarian  and  the  Macedonian,  the  Rou- 
manian and  the  Turk,  the  Croat  and  the  Albanian,  while  of 
Greeks  and  Servians  only  nine  households  in  each  group  were 
studied.  Among  these  people  are  found  the  worst  housing  con- 
ditions in  the  country,  for  the  reason  that  they  are  the  newer 
immigrants,  coming  with  less  than  5  per  cent  women,  and 
living  under  conditions  far  below  anything  hinted  at  in  the 
abstract  report  of  the  Immigration  Commission.  In  scores  of 
industrial  centers  in  the  immigration  zone  representatives  of  the 
above  races  live  under  conditions  none  would  ever  suspect  by 
reading  the  abstract  of  the  Commission's  report  on  "  Immigrants 

*  See  Immigration  Commission's  Abstract  of  Report  on  "  Immigrants  and  In- 
sanity," pp.  8-9. 


CITIES  WHERE  THEY  GATHER 


169 


in  Cities."  The  stag  boarding  houses  are  invariably  dirty, 
filthy,  crowded,  and  filled  with  vermin.  Every  room  is  filled 
with  beds,  and  once  those  beds  are  seen,  the  sight  never  fades 
from  one's  memory.  Of  course,  there  are  not  many  such  houses 
in  any  one  locality,  but  they  are  found  f^r  too  frequently  for 
the  health  of  the  community  in  industrial  centers  in  the  immi- 
gration zone.  You  cannot  find  many  of  these  groups  among 
the  Lithuanians,  Poles,  and  the  Slovaks.  These  peoples  have 
passed  through  that  stage  in  immigration,  the  Magyars  are  fast 
passing  beyond  it,  but  the  Servians  and  the  Croats,  the  Bulga- 
rians and  the  Macedonians,  the  Albanians  and  the  Greeks,  are 
in  the  very  midst  of  it,  and  these  are  the  ones  that  give  rise  to  the 
pubUc  impression  that  there  is  great  crowding  among  immigrants. 

Boarders  crowd  Together.  — On  the  same  night  in  one  block 
in  the  city  of  Toledo,  we  visited  four  boarding  houses  of  these 
newer  immigrants,  and  in  each  instance  the  rooms  were  crowded. 
A  house  in  Dayton,  Ohio,  sheltered  thirty  of  these  men.  When 
one  of  the  constables  went  there  on  a  Saturday  night  to  arrest 
one  of  the  group,  he  found  them  around  a  beer  barrel  carousing. 
He  had  to  beat  a  swift  retreat  in  order  to  save  life  and  limb.  He 
returned  with  sLx  other  men  and  secured  the  culprit,  but  it  was 
only  by  laying  low  some  of  these  men  in  their  booze.  Any  pohce 
oflBcer  in  an  industrial  center  can  give  records  of  conditions  in 
these  stag  boarding  houses  that  are  a  disgrace  to  any  civiliza- 
tion, and  as  long  as  these  continue  the  public  impression  as  to 
crowding,  filth,  and  dissipation  will  continue. 

Racial  Groups  live  Together.  —  Can  these  stag  boarding 
houses  be  obliterated?  No,  not  as  long  as  men  come  without 
their  wives.  Is  there  an  English-speaking  home  in  any  of  our 
cities  that  will  take  in  a  Croat  or  a  Ruthenian  unskilled  worker  ? 
And  it  is  just  as  true  that  no  Croat  or  Ruthenian  would  take 
boarding  in  an  English-speaking  home  at  $18  or  $20  a  month. 
They  could  not  afford  it,  and  they  are  here  for  another  purpose. 
Suppose  these  people  were  to  try  their  Polish  or  Slovak  brothers 
for  boarding,  would  these  open  to  them  ?  No,  men  of  the  same 
blood,  coming  from  different  countries,  have  no  fellowship  with 
one  another.    Again  the  Croat  and  Ruthenian  prefer  to  form 


170 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


groups  of  their  own,  just  as  Anglo-Saxons  and  Americans  do  in 
foreign  countries.  Common  interests  and  tastes  bind  men  of 
all  nations  away  from  home.  Racial  groups,  coming  without 
women,  will  cling  together  and  live  in  houses  with  or  without  a 
boarding  boss  and  his  wife.  We  can,  however,  regulate  these 
houses,  provided  we  have  honest  men  in  municipalities  to  exe- 
cute beneficent  laws.  In  most  municipalities  confronted  with 
the  task,  both  the  laws  and  the  men  are  wanting,  and  the  case 
of  regulation  is  hopeless.  The  stag  boarding  house  is  an  evil 
which  has  always  attended  immigration.  It  existed  among  the 
men  of  the  old  immigration,  and  it  is  still  with  us.  Two  reasons 
make  it  more  acute  at  present  than  ever  before :  the  volume  of 
immigration  from  southeastern  Europe  and  the  preponderance 
of  males  in  the  inflow.  These  conditions  will  pass  away  in  the 
life  of  the  new  immigration  as  they  have  in  that  of  the  old.  How- 
ever, as  long  as  America  will  draw  upon  the  nations  farther  east 
in  Europe,  this  necessary  evil  of  stag  boarding  houses  will  con- 
tinue until  the  day  dawns  when  industrial  communities  regard 
the  immigrant  as  a  man  worthy  of  conditions  that  mean  health 
in  social  and  industrial  relations. 

Standards  of  Cleanliness.  —  The  Immigration  Commission 
also  studied  the  homes  of  immigrants  as  to  their  cleanliness,  and 
the  generalization  is  that  only  13.4  per  cent  were  bad.  The 
generalization,  however,  takes  in  the  Bohemian  and  the  German, 
the  North  Italian  and  the  Swede,  peoples  we  all  know  are  up 
to  the  standards  of  any  civilized  nation  in  cleanliness.  The  pub- 
lic, however,  is  concerned  about  the  newer  immigrants ;  what 
about  these?  What  about  the  Greek  and  the  southern  ItaUan, 
the  Bulgarian  and  the  Roumanian,  the  Ruthenian  and  the 
Croat, — are  they  within  the  class  having  only  13.4  per  cent  dirty 
homes  ?  The  Commission  examined  49  Greek  homes  and  found 
20  per  cent  bad  and  67  per  cent  fair  ;  the  33  Servian  homes  ex- 
amined had  30  per  cent  bad  and  27  fair  ;  and  the  1908  southern 
Italian  homes  examined  had  19  per  cent  bad  and  46  fair.  Of  the 
other  racial  groups  we  learn  nothing,  and  yet  some  of  the  dirtiest 
and  filthiest  places  on  this  continent  are  found  among  the  Rou- 
manians and  the  Croatians,  the  Macedonians  and  the  Turks. 


CITIES  WHERE  THEY  GATHER 


171 


Standards  of  cleanliness  vary.  There  are  dirty  Poles  and  clean 
Jews,  but  the  one  came  from  Russia  and  the  other  from  Germany. 
The  country  from  which  the  people  come  has  much  to  do  with 
being  clean.  A  physician  said  :  "  I  can  tell  immediately  the  men 
of  mihtary  training  among  the  foreigners.  They  are  better 
developed,  and  they  are  cleaner."  A  social  worker  among 
southern  Italians  said :  "  Taken  as  a  whole  they  are  dirty  in  the 
home,  but  there  are  exceptions."  A  physician,  practicing  among 
the  labor  camps  of  the  Northwest,  when  called  upon  to  treat  an 
injured  man,  always  asks,  "  What  is  he,  Finn  or  Pole?  "  If  the 
former  he  takes  his  time,  for,  said  he, "  The  Finn  is  clean  and  I  fear 
no  complication,  but  if  it  is  a  Pole,  I  run,  for  he  is  unclean  and 
the  result  may  be  serious."  Dr.  Kendrick,  in  charge  of  a  divi- 
sion of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad,  said  that  he  examined 
thousands  of  foreigners  entering  the  service  of  the  company, 
and  found  them  just  as  clean  and  their  skin  just  as  white  as  that 
of  the  average  English-speaking.  And  yet,  physicians  in  charge 
of  emergency  hospitals  connected  with  industrial  plants  where 
foreigners  work,  invariably  say  that  the  foreigners'  feet  are 
unclean,  and  if  injured  in  foot  or  leg  the  member  must  always 
be  washed  before  treatment  begins.  Standards  of  cleanliness 
are,  on  the  whole,  low  among  the  men  of  the  new  immigration, 
and  before  these  can  be  corrected,  they  must  be  taught  the  bless- 
ings of  cleanliness,  and  facilities  for  bathing  must  be  put  within 
their  reach.  The  experience  of  cities  which  have  opened  public 
bathing  houses  for  foreigners  proves  how  eager  foreign-born 
men  are  for  these  pri\dleges.  The  patronage  given  is  far  more 
liberal  than  the  advocates  of  public  baths  ever  hoped  for.  It  is 
the  privilege  and  duty  of  every  mimicipality  to  help  these  men 
to  standards  of  cleanliness  which  moral  as  well  as  physical  well- 
being  demand.  The  new  immigrants  in  congested  sections  of  our 
cities  will  rise  more  rapidly  to  American  standards  by  frequent- 
ing a  well-regulated  bath-house  in  charge  of  sympathetic  men  of 
strong  common  sense  than  in  any  other  way. 

Urban  Advantages.  —  The  men  of  the  new  immigration  reside 
in  industrial  centers.  They  can  easily  be  reached  and  the 
remedies  for  the  evils  incident  to  their  coming  are  more  available 


172 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


in  populous  centers  than  elsewhere.  The  best  brain  in  the  coun- 
try is  in  the  city,  and  so  also  is  the  highest  executive  ability ;  the 
wealth  of  the  nation  is  more  concentrated  in  urban  communities 
than  elsewhere,  and  nowhere  as  there  are  eminent  educators  and 
leaders  found.  These  are  the  tools  with  which  to  wage  war  upon 
the  superstition  and  ignorance  of  the  immigrants,  the  unclean- 
ness  and  unsanitary  dwellings  of  the  aliens,  the  helplessness  and 
inefficiency  of  the  foreigners'  homes.  Another  twenty-five 
years  of  conditions  too  common  among  foreigners  in  congested 
quarters  of  large  cities  will  bring  a  slum  situation  that  will  be 
a  check  to  our  progress  and  a  menace  to  our  industrial  peace. 
The  best  prevention  is  to  cure  the  present  condition  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  backward  races  now  in  the  tenements  of  our  cities 
—  a  task  that  is  not  insuperable  and  much  easier  now  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century  hence. 


PART  IV 


SOCIAL  RELATIONS 
CHAPTER  Xn 

LEADERS 

Every  foreign  group  has  its  leader  who  interprets  America  to 
his  followers  and  who  stands  between  them  and  the  new  world. 
The  Slav  has  been  used  to  leadership,  for  he  comes  from  a  social 
organization  that  is  wholly  dependent  upon  the  guidance  and 
counsel  of  the  man  chosen  to  be  the  head  of  the  village  com- 
munity. When  a  company  of  Slavic  workers  look  for  employ- 
ment, they  have  their  leader,  whose  duty  it  is  to  bargain  with  an 
employer  for  work  on  the  best  possible  terms  and  see  that  his  com- 
rades carry  out  the  contract.  When  a  group  of  Slavs  came  to  New 
Bnmswick,  they  tarried  around  the  depot  a  long  time,  and  the 
station  agent  was  about  to  drive  them  out.  He  patiently  waited, 
however,  and  kept  an  eye  on  them.  After  a  while,  he  saw  one  of 
the  company  returning  ;  the  man  talked  to  the  group,  and  imme- 
diately each  took  up  his  baggage  and  followed  him.  This  man 
was  the  leader,  who  had  located  the  foreign  colony,  found  people 
of  his  own  nationaUty,  and  was  able  to  take  his  friends  there. 
Every  group  of  foreigners  coming  to  the  country  has  its  leader. 
If  he  is  able  to  talk  a  Uttle  EngUsh,  his  followers  are  as  children 
in  his  hands,  but  whatever  his  linguistic  capacity  his  word  goes 
with  the  company.  One  of  the  missionaries  working  among 
immigrants  on  Ellis  Island  approached  a  company  of  fifteen 
Poles  going  to  one  of  the  cities  of  the  Middle  West.  He  gave 
each  man  a  card  of  introduction  to  a  representative  of  his  organ- 
ization in  that  city,  who  would  gladly  help  them  to  find  work 
and  render  any  other  assistance  they  might  need.    The  men 

173 


174 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


seemed  pleased  and  grateful.  Half  an  hour  later  they  all 
returned  their  cards,  giving  no  explanation  for  so  doing.  The 
missionary  learned  later  that  the  leader  of  the  gang,  who  was 
absent  when  the  cards  were  distributed,  returned  and  told  each 
man  to  give  back  the  card,  and  they  immediately  obeyed.  When 
a  class  to  study  EngUsh  was  organized  among  a  group  of  young 
Slavs  in  a  city  in  Pennsylvania,  the  leader  was  not  magnified  as 
he  thought  he  ought  to  be,  and  the  class  vanished.  If  successful 
work  is  to  be  done  among  foreigners,  the  leader  of  the  group  must 
be  consulted. 

The  Leader  in  General.  —  We  have  found  almost  invariably 
that  the  "king"  is  genial,  aggressive,  shrewd,  and  capable. 
When  visiting  a  railroad  camp  on  the  New  York,  New  Haven, 
and  Hartford  Railroad,  near  New  Bedford,  I  called  on  the 
commissary,  who  showed  me  every  possible  courtesy.  He  took 
me  through  the  camp,  showed  me  the  bunkhouse  and  the  indi- 
vidual shacks,  answered  freely  every  question  asked,  took  me 
through  the  store,  showed  me  the  goods  he  carried,  and  told  me 
what  the  men  generally  purchased.  When  about  to  leave,  he 
said,  "  Won't  you  take  a  bottle  of  beer?"  "No,  thank  you,"  I 
said.  "  Well,  I  have  some  good  whisky  here  ;  vdW.  you  take  a 
glass?"  "  Thank  you  very  much,  but  I  don't  drink."  "Well, 
I  have  some  fine  ItaUan  wine,  let  me  get  a  bottle."  "  You  are 
very  kind,  but  I  cannot  take  any."  "Well,  take  a  cigar."  It 
was  not  difficult  to  find  out  the  secret  of  that  man's  power  over 
his  men.  And  this  geniality,  courtesy,  and  kindness  is  found 
among  leaders  of  aU  nationalities.  A  Servian  leader  took  me 
to  his  home,  introduced  me  to  his  family,  and  brought  out  the 
best  that  he  had  in  his  house  to  welcome  the  guest.  When  we 
called  on  a  Magyar  in  St.  Louis,  and  inquired  concerning  his 
people,  all  the  information  he  had  was  willingly  given.  He  had 
some  picture  postal  cards  for  sale  —  scenes  in  Budapest  —  which 
I  admired.  I  chose  some  of  them  and  was  about  to  pay  their 
price,  when  he  politely  said  :  "No,  they  are  yours,"  and  inclos- 
ing them  in  an  envelope,  he  bowed  gracefully  and  gave  me  the 
cards.  We  wished  him  good-bye,  but  he  accompanied  us  to 
the  sidewalk  and  invited  us  to  accompany  him  to  the  saloon 


LEADERS 


two  doors  down  —  he  wanted  to  "  set  'em  up."  We  called  on 
a  leader  in  Steubenville,  who  sold  steamship  tickets  and  also  had 
some  books  for  sale.  Among  other  books  we  saw  one  entitled, 
"English  for  Magyars."  It  was  a  new  book,  just  out,  and  I  asked 
the  price  of  the  copy  in  my  hand ;  immediately  the  proprietor 
said:  "It's  sold,  I  gladly  give  you  a  copy."  When  we  called 
on  A.  A.  Paryski,  the  Polish  printer  before  mentioned,  one  of 
the  most  influential  men  among  his  race  in  America,  he  gave 
me  seven  books,  all  printed  in  his  plant  and  illustrating  the 
excellent  service  rendered  by  him  to  his  countrymen.  They 
all  treated  of  America  and  American  institutions. 

Women  Leaders.— The  leaders  are  generally  male,  but  some 
women  are  the  most  influential  members  in  a  colony.  One  of 
these  was  in  a  town  in  Ohio.  She  was  called  the  Italian  Queen, 
and  recognized  by  all  as  the  most  influential  person  in  that 
colony.  We  called  to  see  the  queen,  and  found  a  very  capable 
woman.  She  spoke  English  fluently,  knew  every  Italian  in  the 
colony,  carried  on  a  large  business,  and  was  consulted  on  all 
occasions  by  the  Italians  of  that  settlement.  She  was  married, 
but  the  husband  stood  in  the  background  all  the  time  we  inter- 
viewed the  queen.  When  she  spoke  the  men  were  silent. 
Whatever  she  suggested  was  acquiesced  to  by  the  men.  She 
was  court  interpreter  and  had  the  confidence  of  the  bench  and 
the  members  of  the  bar.  A  court  official,  when  asked  what  he 
thought  of  her,  said:  "Oh,  she's  bright  —  she's  as  good  as  a 
lawyer."  She  was  worthy  of  the  position  she  held  and  the  Ital- 
ians swore  by  her.  Another  Italian  woman,  living  in  a  city  of 
120,000  population,  is  more  influential  than  any  man  in  the 
Italian  colony.  She  came  to  the  United  States  when  a  child, 
worked  in  a  factory,  was  loud  and  uncouth  as  other  girls,  and 
her  qualities  for  leadership  were  not  developed  until  she  was 
married  and  the  support  of  the  home  fell  on  her  because  of  the 
failing  health  of  her  husband.  With  the  responsibility  for  the 
support  of  the  family  came  also  a  quickening  of  her  mental  facul- 
ties, and  by  the  help  of  a  refined  American  lady  she  began  to 
educate  herself.  Her  skill  and  taste  for  nursing  soon  brought  in 
more  than  enough  to  support  the  family,  so  that  she  laid  aside, 


176 


THE  yEW  IMMIGRATION 


in  a  few  years,  a  sum  large  enough  to  enable  her  to  take  a  course 
in  obstetrics  and  secure  a  diploma  as  midwife.  She  is  to-day 
a  refined,  forceful  character,  her  judgments  are  generally  right, 
and  her  knowledge  and  experience  enable  her  to  be  a  guide  to 
those  ruled  largely  by  superstition  and  tradition.  In  another 
to-wn  in  Pennsylvania,  a  Mag)'ar  woman  conducts  a  large 
steamship  agency,  and  her  common  sense  and  business  judg- 
ment are  consulted  by  the  Slavs  of  that  community. 

Kinds  of  Leaders.  —  There  are  some  unscrupulous  leaders  — 
men  who  prey  upon  their  feUow-men  in  a  shameless  manner. 
Many  native-born  defraud  and  exploit  foreigners,  but  they  suffer 
tenfold  more  from  their  o-wn  countr\Tnen.  Indeed,  it  is  safe 
to  say  that  few  Americans  can  exploit  the  foreigners  without 
the  cooperation  of  a  cimning  knave  who  knows  the  ways  of  the 
foreign-born.  A  shrewd  Slav,  in  western  Pennsylvania,  became 
an  "ambulance  chaser"  for  a  couple  of  yoimg  law^'ers,  and  was 
able  to  clear  each  year  about  $2cxx3.  Xo  one  knew  the  amount 
of  business  he  brought  the  legal  firm  by  his  success  in  leading 
innocent  and  confiding  people  into  the  net.  Many  Jews  are 
leaders  among  the  foreigners ;  they  know  how  to  handle  these 
men,  can  talk  their  languages  and  dialects,  and  know  how  to 
cater  to  their  weaknesses.  A  Jew  working  in  the  port  of  Phila- 
delphia, ha\"ing  command  of  manj'  languages  —  that  is,  some 
distinct  tongues  and  several  dialects  —  had  occasion  to  call  on 
Archbishop  R}-an.  As  he  left  the  parish  house,  the  church 
dignitar>'  asked  him  how  many  tongues  he  spoke;  he  repUed, 
"fourteen."  "Well,"  said  the  Archbishop,  "you  must  have 
been  in  Jerusalem  when  the  Holy  Ghost  came  down  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost."  This  linguistic  capacity  of  the  Jew,  as  well  as 
native  shrewdness,  qualifies  him  to  be  a  leader  among  the  im- 
migrants. 

Leaders  aid  Employers.  —  Employers  make  use  of  leaders, 
as  before  stated,  to  secure  men  for  shop  or  mine,  facton,-  or  mill. 
One  of  these  men  in  an  industrial  city,  in  Ohio,  has  prospered 
greatly,  although  he  has  made  many  enemies.  He  wields  great 
power,  and  his  riches  give  him  influence  among  the  foreigners. 
The  man  first  came  to  the  city  at  the  inxitation  of  the  superin- 


LEADERS 


177 


tendent  of  a  large  foundry  who  needed  a  man  of  linguistic 
capacity.  When  he  came  to  town  he  was  poor  and  had  nothing ; 
he  wanted  a  pair  of  suspenders  very  badly,  and  the  superinten- 
dent advanced  him  fifty  cents  to  buy  them.  He  found  the  men 
the  firm  wanted,  acted  as  interpreter  for  the  company,  and  was 
given  the  privilege  of  opening  a  store  to  supply  what  the  for- 
eigners needed.  The  men  traded  with  him,  for  he  gave  them  em- 
ployment, he  interpreted  their  wants,  he  spoke  their  language. 
The  man  waxed  strong,  became  influential,  and  increased  his 
power  by  opening  a  saloon.  It  was  not  long  before  his  grip  on 
the  company  was  such  that  he  virtually  dictated  terms  as  to 
who  should  work  and  who  should  not.  The  superintendent  told 
me  "he  thought  he  owned  all."  At  the  end  of  four  years  the 
company  had  to  get  rid  of  him  else  he  would  ruin  the  plant. 
Mark  was  "  bounced,"  but  he  was  now  able  to  stand  alone.  His 
power  among  the  men  was  great,  and  another  firm  in  the  city, 
hard  pressed  for  laborers,  made  a  contract  with  him  to  furnish 
it  the  necessary  unskilled  labor.  He  laid  down  his  terms : 
the  company  was  to  advance  him  money  to  build  a  town  to 
shelter  the  men  he  would  bring,  and  give  him  absolute  control 
over  it.  The  company  complied,  and  a  town  was  built  where 
three  thousand  people  could  be  housed.  Around  that  town 
Mark  built  a  fence,  and  no  vehicle  had  the  right  to  pass  the  gate 
to  sell  goods  to  the  people  of  "  Hunkeytown."  The  boss  built 
a  large  store,  a  large  saloon,  and  a  hall  where  dances,  meetings, 
and  shows  could  be  held.  Mark  was  king  of  that  village  ;  never 
had  a  sovereign  in  Europe  more  power  over  the  lives  of  men. 
He  furnished  the  operators  the  men  they  wanted,  and  furnished 
the  foreigners  all  the  food,  clothing,  furniture,  drink,  etc.,  they 
needed.  He  alone  in  "  Hunkeytown  "  could  open  the  gate 
and  say  who  should  enter,  and  when  he  said  go,  none  could 
revoke  the  decree.  The  connection  between  the  company  and 
the  king  was  direct.  Men  dared  not  trade  elsewhere  if  they 
wanted  to  work  for  that  company  and  live  in  the  fenced  village. 
Any  one  who  left  the  inclosure  had  also  to  leave  the  work.  Many 
people  believed  that  Mark  exploited  the  ignorant  foreigners  in 
divers  ways.    No  concrete  instance  of  exploitation  has  been 

N 


178 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


substantiated.  Of  course,  he  worked  "  Hunkeytown  "  for  all 
there  was  in  it,  but  within  the  limits  of  the  law.  His  prices  were 
a  little  high,  but  not  higher  than  those  of  some  company  stores 
elsewhere.  The  rent  of  the  houses  was  not  exorbitant.  The 
chief  objection  to  the  man  was  his  scheme  for  hemming  in  on  all 
sides  these  helpless  immigrants  so  that  they  could  not  move  save 
as  he  wUled.  The  fence  he  built  around  the  town  gave  offense 
to  every  American  who  passed  that  way.  As  he  increased  in 
riches  his  enemies  increased  in  number.  Men  whom  he  had 
ruthlessly  crushed  because  they  dared  to  assert  their  independ- 
ence plotted  against  him.  He  Uved  in  fear  and  trembling  for 
several  months,  and  asked  for  special  police  protection  for 
himself  and  the  magnificent  house  in  which  he  lived.  Promi- 
nent Americans  protested  against  the  fenced  town  —  it  was 
contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  country  ;  but  Mark  manipulated  the 
members  of  the  council  so  cleverly  that  every  measure  proposed 
to  tear  down  the  fence  was  defeated.  He  had  made  his  pile, 
but  not  a  good  name.  He  is  not  as  grasping  as  he  was :  his  stand- 
ing in  the  community  and  the  influence  of  members  of  his  family 
have  assuaged  his  greed  and  forced  him  to  conform  more  closely 
to  American  standards  than  once  he  did. 

Saloon-Keepers  as  Leaders.  —  English-speaking  saloon-keep- 
ers often  employ  leaders  among  the  foreigners  to  tend  bar  in 
order  to  catch  the  trade  of  their  countrymen.  In  Taft,  Mont., 
a  saloon-keeper  employed  an  Italian  for  this  purpose.  The 
proprietor  knew  that  the  foreigner  was  robbing  him,  for  he 
caught  the  fellow  taking  money  on  more  than  one  occasion,  but 
the  proprietor  did  not  discharge  him,  for  he  said:  "He  draws 
the  trade,  and  anyway  I  make  enough  to  stand  it."  One  of  the 
qualifications  of  this  son  of  Italy  was  his  success  in  operating  a 
gambling  device  by  which  he  wheedled  the  cash  from  out  the 
pockets  of  his  countrymen.  The  saloon-keeper  admitted  that 
the  gambling  device  brought  in  $80  to  $90  on  pay  day.  An- 
other foreign-speaking  leader  ran  a  saloon  of  his  own,  but  differed 
from  the  average  saloon-keeper  in  trying  to  meet  the  need  of 
his  countrymen  in  a  sympathetic  and  intelHgent  way.  He  fixed 
up  a  large  room  as  a  center  where  the  men  could  meet  and  read 


LEADERS 


179 


the  dailies  as  well  as  papers  from  the  homeland ;  he  also  furnished 
stationery,  pen  and  ink  that  the  men  might  write  to  the  folks  at 
home.  He  had  great  influence  with  his  people,  and  the  politi- 
cians courted  his  friendship.  The  men  had  no  other  social  center, 
and  the  saloon-keeper  rendered  a  service  to  his  countrymen  by 
providing  one.  In  Rock  Island,  a  Belgian  saloon-keeper  was  so 
powerful  in  politics  that  he  carried  the  ward  in  which  he  lived  in 
his  vest  pocket.  He  was  reputed  to  have  broken  well-nigh 
every  commandment  in  the  decalogue,  and  yet  escaped  trial  be- 
cause of  his  political  influence.  His  saloon  was  notorious,  but  the 
officers  of  the  law  connived  at  all  his  doings.  Lithuanians,  who 
have  influence  with  their  coimtrymen,  are  especially  attracted 
to  the  saloon  business,  and  the  public  house  is  a  favorite  rendez- 
vous of  a  large  number  of  these  people.  In  the  license  courts  of 
Pennsylvania,  the  foreign-speaking  applicant  advanced  the  argu- 
ment that  a  license  should  be  given  him  for  the  reason  that 
Americans  do  not  know  the  tastes  of  their  countrymen  and 
hence  cannot  concoct  the  drinks  to  supply  them.  It  was  also 
argued  that  men  preferred  to  patronize  their  countrymen  rather 
than  men  of  other  nationalities  and  that  a  drinking  place  for 
each  nationality  promoted  peace  and  order,  for  men  ha\-ing 
racial  antipathy  meeting  over  their  cups  invariably  quarreled. 

Leaders  as  Politicians.  —  Politicians  make  use  of  leaders 
among  foreigners.  They  are  their  satellites  and  handle  the  for- 
eign votes  in  the  colony.  One  of  these  political  leaders  in  Bridge- 
port was  in  the  newspaper  business,  and  was  the  recognized 
leader  of  the  Democrats  among  his  people.  When  asked  how 
long  he  had  been  in  the  country,  he  said,  "  Seven  years ;  three 
I  put  in  the  mill  for  $1.35  a  day,  four  in  the  newspaper  business." 
He  was  acknowledged  by  the  native-born  to  be  a  shrewd  leader. 
He  has  his  circle  of  workers  for  whom  he  has  secured  municipal 
jobs,  through  the  men  higher  up.  Many  leaders,  however,  or- 
ganize political  clubs  on  an  independent  basis.  One  of  these 
controls  such  a  club  in  a  New  England  town  having  150  elec- 
tors of  Magyar  blood.  When  asked  if  they  were  Republicans, 
he  said  "No."  Democrats  then?  "No;  we're  independent, 
and  vote — well,  you  know  how  it  is."    Yes,  I  knew  many  such 


i8o 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


clubs  in  Pennsylvania,  and  they  generally  voted  for  the  man  who 
put  up  the  most  beer.  These  political  satellites  imitate  the  na- 
tive-born politicians  and  carry  on  the  game  of  politics  along 
lines  commonly  practiced  by  ward  heelers  who  speak  EngHsh 
and  hang  around  saloons.  Some  of  the  foreign-speaking  leaders 
aspire  to  office,  and  it  is  pitiful  how  they  are  beguiled  by  tricky 
politicians.  A  genial  Slav,  a  recognized  leader  among  his  people 
in  the  coal  fields  of  Pennsylvania,  has  been  used  for  many  years 
by  local  politicians  to  rally  the  foreign  vote.  He  aspired  to  a 
county  office,  and  the  party  leaders,  thinking  his  services 
deserved  recognition,  gave  him  the  nomination  on  the  Republican 
ticket.  When  the  returns  came  in,  every  candidate  on  the  ticket 
was  elected  save  the  foreigner.  It  was  a  political  trick.  The 
English-speaking  politicians  of  both  parties  got  together,  agreed 
to  cut  the  Slav  and  put  one  of  their  own  people  into  office.  The 
party  leaders  freely  took  the  money  of  the  gullible  foreigner,  and 
used  it  to  defeat  him  at  the  polls.  The  apprenticeship  which 
these  people  are  serving,  however,  is  not  in  vain;  they  are 
becoming  annually  more  influential,  and  their  presence  in  poli- 
tics must  be  more  and  more  counted  with  each  year. 

Men  who  Defraud.  —  Some  leaders  abuse  the  confidence 
placed  in  them  by  their  fellow-countrymen.  In  a  city  in  the 
Middle  West,  a  very  peculiar  construction  was  on  exhibition  in 
the  foreign  quarter  ;  on  inquiring  I  was  told  :  "  It  is  a  new  wind- 
mill, invented  by  a  Pole  who  has  organized  a  company  and  is 
selhng  stock  to  his  countrymen."  The  stockholders  got  nothing 
but  wind  for  their  money.  An  Italian  writing  from  Italy  wanted 
to  know  what  was  the  status  of  the  "  Chicago  Air  Line."  He 
had  been  induced  by  another  Italian,  selling  stocks,  to  put 
$3000  in  that  concern  —  all  the  money  he  had  saved  during  a 
long  stay  in  America.  He  said  he  wanted  the  money  back  and 
would  gladly  waive  the  interest  promised  if  the  original  sum  were 
returned.  The  stock  at  the  time  of  inquiry  was  worth  less  than 
ten  cents  on  the  dollar.  One  of  the  worst  cases  of  fraud  ever 
perpetrated  on  foreigners  happened  to  the  Poles  in  the  Pitts- 
burgh district.  The  leader  was  connected  with  one  of  the 
priests,  who  helped  him  in  his  schemes.    He  wheedled  out  of  the 


LEADERS 


l8l 


poor  Polish  laborers  in  that  district  some  $200,000,  and  then  left 
town.  Hundreds  of  these  poor  people  trusted  him,  as  they 
trusted  the  priest,  who  was  his  relative,  and  when  he  became 
insolvent,  all  the  savings  of  these  hard  workers  were  swept  away. 
It  is  remarkable  how  credulous  the  foreigners  are  and  how  readily 
they  trust  their  money  to  leaders.  An  immigrant  in  Pennsyl- 
vania set  himself  up  in  the  banking  business,  but  it  was  some  time 
before  he  got  the  money  of  his  countrymen  for  safe  keeping. 
He  secured  their  confidence  by  buying  a  large  safe,  which  he 
placed  in  his  store,  near  the  front  window,  so  that  the  passers-by 
could  see  it.  The  money  soon  began  to  pour  in,  not  because  he 
was  an  honest  man,  but  because  he  had  a  big  safe  in  which  to 
keep  it.  Reverses  come,  and  honest  men  are  involved  ;  I  have 
seen  some  of  the  best  leaders  of  the  foreigners  go  under,  and  none 
were  more  grieved  than  they  themselves 

Jealousy  among  Leaders.  —  The  leaders  are  often  jealous  of 
each  other,  and  their  rivalry  defeats  the  best  interest  of  the 
people.  The  best  example  of  this  is  he  situation  among  the 
Greeks  of  New  York  City.  There  are  between  20,000  and  25,000 
Greeks  in  the  city,  but  they  have  no  national  organization  which 
either  looks  after  the  interest  of  the  Greek  immigrants  on  Ellis 
Island  or  does  anything  for  those  who  land  on  the  Battery.  The 
reason  for  this  is  the  jealousies  of  the  leaders,  who  are  at  dagger's 
point  and  malign  each  other  in  an  irrational  and  foolish  manner. 
Because  of  this  unfortunate  state  of  affairs,  no  race  in  the  new 
immigration  is  more  subject  to  insults  and  wrongs  in  New  York 
City  than  the  Greeks.  Many  of  them  are  detained  on  Ellis 
Island,  and,  knowing  not  what  to  do,  they  tarry  there  helpless 
until  deported ;  whereas,  if  the  Pan-Hellenic  Society  were  well 
organized  so  as  to  be  able  to  place  a  representative  on  the  Island, 
their  unfortunate  countrymen  could  be  helped  and  many 
sorrows  spared.  A  young  Greek  recently  landed  from  whom  an 
agent  in  Patras  had  taken  $125  —  all  the  money  the  young  man 
could  command.  He  had  the  address  of  a  Greek  in  the  city, 
who,  the  agent  said,  would  see  him  landed  in  America.  The 
young  man  found  himself  penniless  on  Ellis  Island,  and  the 
party  whose  address  he  had  repudiated  all  responsibility.  Such 


l82 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


a  gross  wrong  would  be  impossible  if  a  disinterested  Pan-Hellenic 
Society  were  to  investigate  the  conduct  of  crooks  who  rob  the 
unwary.  Many  Greeks  landing  on  the  Battery  are  shamefully 
defrauded  by  runners,  for  there  are  no  responsible  persons  at 
points  of  destination,  either  to  advise  them  what  to  do  or  direct 
them  safely  to  their  friends.  The  Greek  colony  in  the  metrop- 
olis is  hopelessly  divided  because  the  leaders  cannot  agree.  Their 
quarrels  enter  into  business  and  social  relations,  and  have 
penetrated  into  the  sacred  precinct  of  their  spiritual  life;  the 
two  Greek  churches  in  the  city  represent  the  division  found  in 
the  Greek  community. 

Italians  are  Divided.  —  The  Italians  are  also  troubled  in  this 
respect.  The  leader  of  a  Calabrian  group  will  have  no  good  word 
to  say  of  the  leader  of  a  Neapolitan  crowd.  A  leader  will  readily 
help  men  from  his  own  province,  but  men  from  another  province 
he  does  not  know.  'Wlien  a  class  in  English  was  organized  among 
a  group  of  Sicilians  in  one  of  our  cities,  the  organizer  thought  that 
a  similar  work  should  be  started  in  another  colony  of  Italians 
within  a  few  blocks  of  the  first  and,  finding  the  leader,  he  inno- 
cently told  him  of  the  work  among  the  Sicilians.  That  settled 
it,  —  if  we  were  friends  of  those  "  Dagoes  "  there  was  no  opening 
for  us  among  these  Italians.  This  is  not  strange.  For  centuries 
Italy  was  divided  between  petty  potentates  whose  interest  it 
was  to  keep  alive  the  flame  of  hate  between  the  inhabitants  of 
the  several  provinces,  and  those  living  near  each  other  cherished 
deeper  enmity  against  their  neighbors  than  against  their  coun- 
trymen residing  farther  away. 

Leaders  in  Free  Thought.  —  Among  the  Slavs  and  Magyars 
religion  plays  an  important  part  in  their  life,  and  leaders  are 
divided  upon  this  question.  Religious  divisions  are  frequently 
found  among  the  Poles.  An  influential  layman  may  oppose  the 
rule  of  the  priest,  and  if  his  folio-Rang  among  the  members  is 
strong,  he  will  either  disrupt  the  organization  or  drive  out  the 
priest.  In  Utica,  there  was  a  man  of  this  type,  influential,  reso- 
lute, intelligent,  and  a  good  Catholic.  The  priest  was  wholly 
unworthy  of  his  ofiice,  and  the  layman  felt  that  he  could  not 
stand  to  see  a  man  drunk  at  the  altar ;  "  what  effect  wiU  that 


LEADERS 


183 


have  on  my  children?  "  he  asked.  So  he  headed  the  opposition 
to  put  the  man  out.  The  opposition  thought  it  had  gained 
victory,  when,  lo,  at  midnight  the  priest  again  returned  to  the 
parsonage.  No  sooner  was  the  news  spread  that  he  had  returned 
than  the  leader  and  his  friends  assembled  and  drove  him  out  the 
second  time.  Among  the  Lithuanians  much  radicalism  is  found. 
These  men  criticize  the  church  and  the  clergy,  and  have  organ- 
ized themselves  into  a  society  of  free  thinkers.  One  of  the 
leaders  of  this  movement  was  for  many  years  active  in  Shen- 
andoah, Pa.,  to  the  discomfort  of  the  priests  and  the  church. 
He  got  into  trouble  with  the  people  and  was  finally  obliged  to 
leave  town. 

The  Priests  as  Leaders.  —  Of  all  leaders  among  the  foreigners 
none  play  as  important  a  part  as  the  priests  do.  Most  of  them 
are  true  shepherds  of  their  flocks  ;  some  are  wholly  unworthy 
of  the  title  they  bear.  Clerical  influence  is  not  equally  potent 
among  all  people  of  the  new  immigration.  The  priests  among 
the  Italians  have  not  the  influence  their  compeers  have  among 
the  Poles.  Many  leaders  in  Italian  communities  speak  very  dis- 
paragingly of  the  priests,  but  it  is  a  rare  thing  to  find  a  Polish 
leader  doing  that.  Ask  a  leading  Pole  something,  and  he  invari- 
ably says :  "  You  see  the  priest,  he  will  be  able  to  tell  you  what 
you  want  to  know."  None  among  the  new  immigration  are 
more  servile  to  their  spiritual  leaders  than  the  Poles,  and  yet 
among  them  are  found  laymen  who  resent  tl.c  arrogance  of 
unwise  spiritual  leaders  who  want  to  lord  it  over  the  flock. 
Among  the  Lithuanians  and  Slovaks,  the  Croats  and  the  Mag- 
yars, the  Servians  and  the  Bulgarians,  Poles  and  Ruthenians, 
are  found  devout  men  —  shepherds  of  their  people.  They  are 
hard  workers,  and  render  all  kinds  of  service  to  their  fellow- 
countrymen.  Many  successful  "  Building  and  Loan  Associa- 
tions "  are  organized  and  conducted  in  parish  houses  or  in  vestry 
rooms,  the  priest  being  the  presiding  genius  and  the  pillar  of  the 
organization.  The  number  of  church  societies,  most  of  which 
have  benefit  and  insurance  features,  owe  their  success  to  the  serv- 
ices of  the  priests.  They  are  often  influential  enough  to  check 
some  foolish  or  rash  action  of  their  countrymen,  which  would 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


involve  them  in  industrial  disputes.  Again  and  again  have 
operators  told  me  that  the  priests  have  been  their  most  potent 
instruments  in  clearing  up  misunderstandings  between  them 
and  their  foreign-speaking  employees.  The  clergy  take  interest 
in  legal  disputes  between  members  of  the  parish,  bringing  the 
parties  involved  together,  adjusting  the  matter  between  them, 
and  thus  save  the  expense  of  a  lawsuit.  One  of  the  most  indig- 
nant men  I  ever  saw  was  a  priest  who  stood  over  the  corpses  of 
five  men,  the  victims  of  a  mine  accident.  Ilis  soul  was  stirred 
within  him  as  he  saw  the  mangled  corpses  of  his  people,  and  in 
righteous  wrath  he  denounced  the  sentiment  that  regarded  the 
life  of  a  foreigner  as  of  so  Uttle  value.  Some  priests  have  shown 
interest  in  establishing  agricultural  colonies  where  their  people 
can  invest  their  money  and  return  to  the  land.  Many  of  the 
leading  papers  circulating  among  the  men  of  the  new  immigra- 
tion are  managed  and  supported  by  priests,  and  the  power  they 
wield  is  great.  The  newer  immigrants  are  nothing  if  not 
religious,  and  the  power  of  the  clergy  is  great ;  if  wisely  used 
it  can  be  one  of  the  most  influential  agencies  for  the  American- 
ization of  the  foreigners. 

Capable  Men  ought  to  Lead.  —  One  of  the  greatest  needs 
of  the  new  immigration  is  efficient  and  capable  leadership 
sympathetic  with  American  ideals.  A  serious  fault  in  many 
foreign-born  leaders  is  that  they  have  not  the  point  of  view  of 
Americans  and  their  influence  is  exerted  to  perpetuate  in  Amer- 
ica the  ideas,  institutions,  and  customs  of  the  old  world.  Many 
leaders  have  their  faces  turned  to  the  homeland :  they  take  more 
interest  in  the  poUtics  of  Budapest  and  Menna,  of  Rome  and 
Athens,  than  in  those  of  Washington  or  of  the  state  in  which  they 
reside.  This  retards  the  process  of  assimilation  and  tends  to  per- 
petuate colonies  in  our  cities  wholly  separated  in  sympathy  and 
ideas  from  the  native-born.  This  is  also  true  of  many  foreign- 
speaking  priests  and  pastors.  Their  first  concern  is  to  perpetuate 
the  language  of  their  fathers,  to  teach  it  to  the  children  in  the  pa- 
rochial school,  to  perpetuate  a  foreign  institution  in  the  new  world. 
Their  influence  is  great  in  dramatic  societies  and  educational 
clubs,  but  invariably  it  is  exerted  to  keep  ahve  racial  patriotic 


LEADERS 


185 


sentiment  to  the  exclusion  of  everything  that  savors  of  American 
patriotic  sentiment.  This  adherence  to  European  languages, 
standards,  customs,  and  history  has  been  a  fruitful  cause  of 
friction  between  the  foreign-speaking  priests  and  the  American 
Roman  Catholic  clergy.  The  latter  insist  upon  the  American 
viewpoint,  the  former  just  as  studiously  cultivate  the  European 
viewpoint.  An  effort  is  being  made  to  overcome  the  difficulty 
by  sending  young  men  of  native  birth,  designed  for  the  priest- 
hood, to  Europe  to  master  the  language  of  the  foreigners.  These 
men  will  have  the  American  viewpoint,  and  by  ministering  to 
the  spiritual  needs  of  the  foreigners  in  the  United  States  they 
wiU  be  far  better  able  to  lead  them  into  intelligent  appreciation 
of  American  institutions  and  ideals. 

American  Leaders  Wanted.  —  No  true  American  desires  the 
foreigner  to  forget  the  rock  whence  he  was  hewn.  The  back- 
ground of  every  nation  from  which  our  immigration  is  drawn 
is  replete  with  heroic  achievement,  and  it  is  a  heritage  of  which 
every  descendant  of  the  foreign-born  ought  to  be  proud.  But 
America  has  a  right  to  expect  that  the  men  who  come  and  make 
this  country  their  home  should  be  familiar  with  its  institutions, 
its  ideals,  and  know  something  of  the  men  who  laid  down  the 
foundations  of  this  Republic  and  of  the  sacrifices  they  made  for 
its  preservation.  But  this  knowledge  and  training  will  never 
be  given  the  foreign-born  if  their  leaders  are  not  imbued  with 
the  American  spirit.  The  public  school  is  doing  admirable 
work,  in  this  respect,  with  the  sons  of  foreigners ;  but  if  the 
parents  themselves  are  not  brought  into  sympathy  with  these 
truths,  the  public  school  is  only  educating  the  son  away  from  his 
father.  Every  member  in  the  foreigner's  home  must  be  brought 
to  the  American  viewpoint,  and  for  the  task  trained  leadership, 
both  male  and  female,  must  be  set  to  work  to  interpret  America 
to  the  millions  of  the  new  immigration.  In  this  work,  local 
leaders  among  the  foreigners  should  be  enlisted.  They  are  a 
power  that  must  be  aligned,  else  little  good  can  be  accomplished. 
This  is  perfectly  feasible,  for  as  a  rule  the  foreign-bom  leader  has 
intelhgence  and  ability,  and  generally  admires  things  American. 
He  will  appreciate  the  honor  of  being  used  by  Americans  to 


i86 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


enlarge  the  knowledge  of  his  countrymen  of  America,  its  history, 
its  institutions  and  its  opportunities. 

Community  Work.  —  Experiments  already  conducted  along 
these  lines  are  full  of  encouragement.  In  Brockton,  Mass., 
a  flourishing  Lithuanian  Education  Society  is  found.  It  is  the 
offshoot  of  an  effort  made  by  a  band  of  patriotic  men  to  lead 
the  foreign-born  brother  into  sympathetic  relationship  with 
America.  The  work  started  by  classes  in  English,  lectures  on 
American  history,  talks  on  how  the  people  rule,  travelogues 
through  America  and  the  opportunities  the  land  offers,  lectures 
on  the  industries  of  America  and  where  they  were  located,  etc. 
The  Lithuanian  leaders  beHeved  in  the  honesty  of  purpose  of 
the  native-born  and  heartily  endorsed  their  plans.  They  en- 
couraged their  people  to  attend  and  the  result  is  as  intelli- 
gent a  club  of  foreign-speaking  men,  most  of  whom  are  electors, 
as  can  be  found  in  the  country.  They  have  erected  a  build- 
ing to  be  dedicated  wholly  to  education,  and  to  perpetuate  the 
work  so  wisely  started  by  men  who  had  faith  in  the  foreigner. 

This  type  of  service  can  be  carried  on  in  every  foreign-speak- 
ing colony  in  America,  providing  leaders  of  foreign  and  native 
birth  join  hands  in  the  work.  Patriots  and  conservators  of  what 
is  excellent  and  glorious  in  our  history  must  give  greater  atten- 
tion to  leaders  among  the  aliens,  if  the  assimilation  of  the  new 
immigration  is  to  be  effected.  Politicians,  saloon-keepers,  em- 
ployers, and  financiers  have  used  foreign-born  leaders  to  accom- 
plish their  purpose  ;  social  workers,  educators,  philanthropists,  and 
reformers  must  do  the  same  if  they  expect  to  effect  their  pur- 
pose with  the  immigrants  from  southeastern  Europe.  Without 
the  help  of  these  men  nothing  can  be  done ;  with  their  support 
nothing  will  prove  too  difficult.  When  competent  leadership, 
made  up  of  the  home-born  and  the  foreign-born,  agrees  on  a 
program  which  will  explain  to  the  immigrants  the  meaning  of 
America  in  the  history  of  the  world  the  problems  arising  from 
the  incoming  milUons  will  be  far  on  the  way  of  solution. 


CIL\PTER  Xin 


SOCIETIES 

The  men  of  the  new  immigration  are  much  given  to  organisa- 
tions of  various  kinds.  When  we  asked  Mr.  De  Rosa,  in  Pitts- 
burgh, "  How  many  societies  are  there  among  the  Italians?  " 
he  raised  his  hand  and  said,  "  O  Lord,  you  can't  count  them,  there 
must  be  ninety  at  least."  An  intelligent  Itahan  in  Utica,  depre- 
ciating this  multiplicit}'  of  organizations,  spoke  of  the  great  good 
which  could  be  accomplished  if  all  benevolent  societies  among  his 
countrymen  were  federated  into  one  powerful  organization.  The 
same  tendency  to  multiplicity  of  organizations  is  found  among 
other  nationaUties.  ^liss  Alice  G.  Masaryk,  writing  to  the  Xew 
York  Survey,  says  :  "  Two  pages,  large  sheets  of  the  daily 
paper  Sivrnost,  Ue  before  me,  covered  with  small  print,  giving  the 
names  of  Bohemian  clubs,  societies,  and  lodges  in  Chicago.  The 
Catholic  press  gives  another  long  list  of  Catholic  lodges,  CathoUc 
clubs.  This  fever  for  organization  is  topical  of  the  Bohemians 
in  Chicago."  The  same  is  true  of  the  Poles  and  Slovaks,  Croa- 
tians  and  Slovenians,  Greeks  and  Bulgarians,  etc.  P.  V. 
Rovnianeck,  of  Pittsburgh,  ha\-ing  spoken  of  the  National 
Slovak  Society,  names  others :  "  Among  them  (are)  the  First 
Catholic  Union,  the  Greek  Catholic  Union,  the  Zivena,  the  Pres- 
byterian Calvinistic  Union,  the  CathoUc  Slovak  Ladies' Associa- 
tion, the  Sokol,  the  himdreds  of  literar}",  benevolent  and  politi- 
cal clubs,  organized  by  Slovaks  in  the  United  States."  The  editor 
of  the  Tygodnik  Polski  beUeves  that  there  are  no  fewer  than 
7000  organizations  of  all  kinds  among  the  Poles  in  America,  and 
that  the  total  number  of  members  is  not  less  than  800,000.  The 
editor  of  the  Serb  Sloga  believes  that  there  are  200  societies 
among  his  people,  with  a  membership  of  not  less  than  12,000. 
Among  the  Slovenians  there  are  no  less  than  1500  clubs  and  soci- 
eties, and  possibly  120,000  members.  These  men  are  so  well  or- 

187 


i88 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


ganized  that  recently  arrived  immigrants  must  join  the  national 
society  or  suffer  practical  ostracism  as  far  as  Slovenian  society 
is  concerned.  As  before  stated,  the  majority  of  the  new  immi- 
grants come  from  agricultural  communities,  and  judging  them 
by  the  farming  population  of  the  United  States,  we  marvel 
that  they  display  such  a  genius  for  organization.  But  social 
relations  in  agricultural  communities  in  Europe  difier  much  from 
those  common  in  the  United  States.  The  Slav  farm  workers 
live  in  villages,  and  the  families  are  so  organized  that  the  culti- 
vated area  near  the  village  is  worked  on  a  communal  basis,  and 
the  workers  are  under  the  direction  of  a  leader,  whose  duty  is 
to  serve  the  village  as  a  father  does  the  home.  All  share  in  the 
products,  and  a  year  of  prosperity  enriches  all.  Communal 
tendency  is  in  the  blood  of  the  Slav,  and  it  finds  expression  in 
organizations  in  America.  The  Italians  are  not  organized  into 
communal  bands,  but  they  also  live  in  walled  towns  rather  than 
in  isolated  farmhouses.  The  Italian  farm  worker,  living  in  a 
village  on  the  hillside,  thinks  nothing  of  going  four  or  five  miles 
to  work  on  the  farm  in  the  plain.  The  tillers  of  the  soil  in  south- 
eastern Europe  enjoy  the  fellowship  of  their  friends  and  are 
familiar  with  organized  relations  ;  when  they  come  to  the  United 
States,  racial  consciousness,  the  longing  for  the  fellowship  of 
countrymen,  for  protection,  and  common  economic  and  social 
interests  impel  them  into  various  kinds  of  societies. 

Religious  Societies.  —  Church  societies  are  most  numerous 
among  the  new  immigrants.  In  the  largest  Lithuanian  church 
in  the  United  States,  several  banners  are  seen  hanging  on  up- 
right poles  scattered  through  the  main  audience  room.  The 
priest  explained  that  they  were  the  ensigns  of  the  several  societies 
connected  with  the  church,  whose  members  aided  in  securing 
support  for  the  organization  and  in  decorating  the  edifice. 
There  were  other  societies  connected  with  the  church,  in  which 
sick  and  death  benefits  were  paid.  He  further  explained  that 
every  member  in  the  societies  must  be  in  good  standing  in  the 
church.  The  priest,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  controls  these 
organizations,  although  a  board  of  managers  from  among  the  lay- 
men is  chosen,  but  the  members  are  generally  in  touch  with  their 


SOCIETIES 


189 


spiritual  adviser.  The  Christian  Church  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  down  to  comparatively  recent  times,  was  in  control  of 
benevolent  activities  in  communities,  and  charity  of  all  kinds  was 
regarded  as  a  necessary  part  of  the  church's  duty  to  the  parish- 
ioners —  it  was  the  prerogative  of  the  Church  and  a  part  society 
expected  it  to  play.  The  Church  among  Anglo-Saxons  and  Teu- 
tons has  almost  wholly  withdrawn  from  the  field  of  insurance 
of  all  kinds,  and  societies  for  sick  and  death  benefits  are  in  the 
hands  of  laymen,  promoted  and  managed  by  them  without  the 
intervention  of  the  clergy.  This,  however,  is  not  the  case  among 
the  Slavs  and  Lithuanians,  Magyars  and  Croats.  The  Church 
is  still  in  control  of  the  beneficiary  societies  found  among  them, 
and  the  clergy  are  potent  factors  in  their  management.  Eccle- 
siastical authority  keeps  its  hands  on  the  organization,  although 
laymen  may  hold  important  ofiices.  When  the  National  Polish 
Alliance  shaped  its  policy  so  as  to  exclude  the  interference  of  the 
Polish  clergy  in  its  affairs,  it  radically  departed  from  Slavic  cus- 
tom. The  fact  that  5opercent  of  the  85,000  members  are  citizens 
of  the  United  States  and  had  come  to  the  American  ^  point  of  view 
doubtless  had  much  to  do  with  the  movement  for  autonomy; 
these  new  Americans  felt  that  they  were  strong  enough 
to  act  and  speak  without  standing  in  the  shadow  of  the 
church. 

Secular  Organizations.  —  There  are  also  many  secular  benevo- 
lent organizations.  This  is  especially  the  case  among  Italians. 
The  Italian  government  has  taken  particular  interest  in  its 
immigrants,  and  among  other  benevolent  activities,  it  has  insti- 
tuted a  protective  society  for  ItaUan  labor,  which  is  conducted 
partly  by  an  appropriation,  and  partly  by  a  monthly  payment  from 
the  members.  In  every  town  where  from  500  to  1000  Italians 
reside,  two  or  three  organizations  are  found.  In  cities  where 
tens  of  thousands  live,  the  number  of  societies  passes  beyond  com- 

'  The  situation  of  the  Greek  Catholic  and  Greek  Orthodox  church  societies 
among  the  Russinacs  is  typical  of  that  found  among  other  peoples.  These  societies, 
called  after  some  patron  saint,  are  practically  mutual  aid  societies  and  are  combined 
into  unions.  There  are  nine  such  unions  in  North  America  and  the  clergy  want  to 
control  them ;  six  are  more  or  less  under  their  control,  but  three  are  opposed  to 
such  interference. 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


putation,  and  for  every  church  society  there  will  be  four  or  five 
secular  ones.  They  are  often  named  after  Italian  patriots,  such 
as  Mazzini,  Cavour,  Garibaldi,  Victor  Emmanuel,  Bruno,  etc., 
while  others  are  named  after  the  heroes  of  American  history, 
such  as  George  Washington,  Lincoln,  Grant,  etc.,  and  in  New 
Haven  there  is  a  society  of  Italian  women  —  mothers  all  — 
organized  as  the  "  Teddy  Roosevelt  Club." 

Secular  Societies.  —  Among  the  foreigners  also  are  found  secu- 
lar societies  that  are  anti-clerical  in  their  tendency.  An  extreme 
example  of  this  is  found  among  the  Lithuanians,  who  have  organ- 
ized a  free-thinking  association  among  the  men  who  are  not 
loyal  adherents  of  the  Church.  It  offers  to  its  members  privi- 
leges similar  to  those  found  in  benevolent  societies  managed  by 
the  clergy,  while  the  question  of  creed  is  tabooed.  A  Lithuanian 
priest,  when  speaking  of  this  organization,  said  that  the  mem- 
bers were  no  good,  and  that  the  St.  Casimir  Society,  and  others 
like  it,  had  a  firm  foundation  in  religion,  and  each  member 
"  must  be  in  holy  communion  at  least  once  a  year  before  he  can 
retain  his  membership."  On  the  other  hand,  one  of  the  free- 
thinkers, when  asked  how  they  came  to  organize  benevolent  soci- 
eties independent  of  the  Church,  answered, "  We  like  Protestants, 
we  run  our  own  society."  Could  such  an  answer  as  that  be  given 
by  the  men  of  the  new  immigration  outside  of  the  United 
States?  Of  course,  between  societies  among  the  same  people, 
divided  by  religious  differences,  there  is  no  fellowship.  This  was 
shown,  not  long  ago,  among  the  Italians,  in  Detroit.  Two 
Italian  organizations  were  prominent  in  the  life  of  the  colony,  and 
the  leaders  thought  it  advisable  to  celebrate  Columbus  Day  in  a 
patriotic  manner.  The  minor  clubs  fell  in  readily  with  the  plan, 
but  the  Lombardi  Club,  under  the  control  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  refused  to  parade  if  the  Independents,  who  were  mem- 
bers of  a  Protestant  church,  were  to  take  part  in  the  procession. 
The  discussion  precipitated  considerable  feeling,  accompanied 
by  many  malignant  expressions.  The  same  thing  took  place 
among  the  Magyars  of  Dayton.  During  one  of  their  national 
festivals  the  Roman  Catholics  refused  to  parade  with  the 
members  of  the  Reformed  Church,  and  that  evening,  when  the 


SOCIETIES 


191 


latter  organization  planned  a  supper  and  dance,  the  priest 
warned  the  girls  of  his  parish  that  any  one  who  attended 
the  dance  would  be  fined  $1.  More  than  twenty  fines  were 
paid. 

Friendly  Relations.  —  These  jealousies  are  unpleasant,  en- 
gender hatreds,  and  precipitate  conflicts.  The  common  people 
are  disposed  to  peace,  but  their  leaders  emphasize  differences. 
The  parishioners  work  together,  play  together,  meet  socially 
together,  and  religious  differences  do  not  appear  among  them  in 
these  relations.  It  would  seem  reasonable  that  ecclesiastical 
leaders  of  all  faiths  should  encourage  kindly  feeling  and  sym- 
pathetic intercourse  among  these  men,  and  thus  enhance  the 
peace  and  good  fellowship  of  foreign-speaking  colonies  in  the 
land.  It  is  a  fact,  however,  that  the  foolish  interference  of 
Protestant  and  Catholic  clergy  with  the  social  life  of  their  people 
is  largely  disregarded,  and  it  is  also  true  that  among  the  men  of 
the  new  immigration,  no  division  of  interests  is  found  that 
will  equal  in  intensity  of  feeling  the  hatred  e.xisting  between  the 
Irish  and  the  Orangemen  of  the  old  immigration. 

Military  Societies.  —  A  great  many  clubs  are  found  among  the 
foreigners.  The  Poles  have  national  military  societies,  which 
are  aflSliated  more  or  less  closely  with  the  church.  One  of  these 
bodies,  composed  of  thirty-five  young  fellows,  met  for  regular 
drill  in  the  hall  of  one  of  the  churches  in  Schenectady.  A  bright 
young  man  was  in  charge,  who  arranged  his  squad,  issued  com- 
mand, and  went  through  the  maneuvers  generally  practiced  by 
military  companies.  The  priest  was  much  interested  in  the 
group,  and  encouraged  their  zeal,  and  when  asked,  "How  many 
Polish  men  are  thus  organized  in  the  United  States?  "  said, 
"  I'm  not  sure,  but  not  less  than  20,000."  "  And  where  do  they 
drill?"  we  asked.  "In  halls  and  other  places,"  was  his  reply. 
This  is  young  Poland  on  American  soil,  preparing  for  the  day  of 
conflict  when  deliverance  from  the  grip  of  the  Russian  Bear 
will  be  the  issue.  The  Lithuanians  have  some  military  organiza- 
tions similar  to  those  found  among  the  Poles  which  have  the  same 
purpose.  Lithuania  was  swept  into  the  lap  of  Russia  when  Po- 
land was  wiped  off  the  map  of  Europe,  and  has  suffered  from  the 


192 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


tyranny  of  the  Czar.  Some  Greek  communities  are  also  inter- 
ested in  military  organizations  and  have  dreams  about  the 
reclaiming  of  ancient  Hellas.  A  Greek  in  Moline,  111.,  during 
the  last  Graeco-Turkish  war,  took  a  company  of  1000  men  from 
America  to  take  part  in  the  conflict. 

Sokol  Societies.  —  Sokol  societies  are  found  among  the  Slavs. 
These  are  gymnastic  organizations  made  up  of  young  men  who 
meet  for  physical  exercise,  very  much  like  the  Turner- Verein 
among  the  Germans.  The  societies  are  generally  weak,  having 
little  equipment,  and  meet  for  the  most  part  in  halls  connected 
with  saloons.  Many  clubs  of  this  kind  are  found  among  the 
Poles,  and  in  large  cities  several  branches  may  be  found.  The 
Slovaks  and  Lithuanians  have  similar  clubs.  The  Italians  also 
have  some  societies  for  physical  exercises,  but  the  number  is  small 
as  compared  with  that  of  the  Poles.  The  Greeks,  of  all  recent 
immigrants,  are  the  most  fond  of  athletic  exercise,  and  many  of 
them  find  their  way  to  the  best  gymnasiums  in  the  city  where 
they  reside.  In  large  cities,  such  as  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  New 
York,  etc.,  where  strong  colonies  of  Greeks  and  Macedonians 
are  found,  one  of  the  most  popular  entertainments  is  a  match 
between  a  Grecian  and  a  Turkish  wrestler.  On  these  occasions 
the  purse  strings  of  every  penurious  Greek  are  loosened,  and  an 
exciting  evening  is  spent. 

Selected  Groups.  —  Clubs  and  societies  are  organized  along 
social  lines,  and  it  is  curious  to  see  how  men  will  forsake  an  organ- 
ization of  their  own  people  in  an  effort  to  break  away  from 
limitations  imposed  upom  them  by  race  or  creed.  In  Xewburg, 
N.Y.,  a  class  in  English  was  organized  among  a  group  of  Ital- 
ians recently  come  to  town  from  Ashokan  Dam.  The  list  of 
names  was  shown  a  local  leader,  who  immediately  said  :  "  These 
fellows  are  of  no  account ;  come,  I'll  introduce  you  to  our  club  ;  " 
and  the  club  was  composed  of  the  best  Italians  in  town,  very 
different  from  the  diggers  from  the  Aqueduct.  When  Mr. 
H.  J.  Parker,  of  Chicago,  investigated  a  territory  on  the  north 
side  of  the  city,  for  the  purpose  of  finding  out  whether  or  not 
welfare  work  could  be  started  for  the  Russian  Jews,  he  inter- 
viewed a  typical  Jew,  laid  his  plans  before  him,  and  asked: 


SOCIETIES 


"What  do  you  think  of  it?"  "Fine,"  he  said;  "we  must  do 
something  to  counteract  the  influence  of  these  'Sheenies'  that 
are  coming  here."  There  are  scores  of  young  Jews  in  New  York 
City,  members  of  Gentile  clubs  and  societies,  who  deliberately 
turn  away  from  kindred  organizations  among  their  own  people, 
saying :  "  There's  too  much  Jerusalem  there."  Men  of  every 
nationality  do  this.  Differences  between  members  of  the  same 
society  may  lead  to  ludicrous  spite  work.  A  double  house  in 
Ishpeming,  built  as  a  cooperative  undertaking  by  two  Finnish 
famiUes,  was  occupied  by  them,  one  on  either  side.  When  the 
house  was  built  they  were  friends  and  members  of  the  same 
society ;  they  quarreled,  and  to  spite  each  other,  the  one  painted 
the  side  of  the  house  which  he  owned  red  and  the  other  painted 
his  black.  The  house  looks  very  funny,  and  is  a  monument  to 
human  stupidity. 

Clubs  like  Americans.  —  Some  immigrants  imitate  the  native- 
born  by  organizing  clubs  which  are  little  more  than  centers  of 
social  influence  and  pleasure.  One  of  these  met  on  a  Sunday 
afternoon  in  a  Magyar  hall,  in  a  populous  city  in  Pennsylvania. 
In  the  one  corner  a  rushing  business  was  done  by  a  Building  and 
Loan  society,  in  another  comer  the  officers  of  a  sick  benefit 
society  were  at  work,  and  in  another  corner  a  barroom  was  doing 
a  flourishing  business.  There  were  in  the  hall  at  the  time  from 
two  to  three  hundred  men,  and  only  two  or  three  of  them  under 
the  influence  of  drink.  They  began  business  about  ten  or 
eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  kept  going  till  eight  or  nine 
in  the  evening.  Women,  children,  and  men  were  constantly 
coming  and  going,  but  many  men  stayed  most  of  the  day,  chat- 
ting, smoking,  and  drinking.  I  asked  one  of  the  men,  "Who 
owns  this  hall?"  He  repUed,  "The  Magyar  Club."  The 
club  hired  the  man  at  the  bar  and  the  profits  went  to  the 
treasury  of  the  organization.  Several  cooperative  halls  have 
been  built  by  the  Lithuanians  and  a  few  by  the  Poles,  but  in 
almost  every  instance  the  bar  was  installed,  and  never  do  the 
men  fail  to  take  the  visitor  to  it  and  "  set  'em  up."  Taking 
these  club  organizations  as  a  whole,  they  serve  a  good  purpose. 
Excessive  drinking  is  rare,  and  they  are  centers  of  attraction  to 


194 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


the  people,  where  social  amusements  may  be  carried  on.  When- 
ever the  hall  is  occupied,  the  bar  is  well  patronized  —  just 
as  well  patronized  as  those  of  English-speaking  clubs,  and 
the  money  is  used  for  the  same  purpose,  namely,  to  pay  off  the 
indebtedness  on  the  building. 

Clubs  as  Gambling  Dens.  —  Immigrants  or  their  sons  have 
some  clubs  that  are  anti-social  in  their  character.  In  one  city 
in  New  England  there  are  three  clubs  conducted  by  young  men 
of  foreign  birth,  which  are  gambling  dens  pure  and  simple. 
The  passion  for  games  of  chance  or  lottery  among  young  Poles 
and  Itahans  is  strong,  and  it  is  comparatively  easy  to  run  clubs 
where  gambling  appliances  are  the  chief  attraction.  The 
Greeks  are  also  given  to  this  business.  Greeks  run  poolrooms 
where  men  congregate  in  large  numbers,  and  gambling  goes  on. 
The  same  is  true  of  clubs  which  are  more  exclusive  than  the  pool- 
room. These  are  frequented  not  only  by  the  foreign-speaking, 
but  also  by  the  native-born.  One  of  these  dens  in  Pittsburgh 
was  in  an  upper  room,  and  around  the  pool  table  were  men  of 
five  different  nationalities.  A  Greek  was  in  charge  of  the 
place;  when  we  entered  the  dice  stopped  and  so  did  another 
game,  and  the  fellow  came  up  and  said,  "What  you  want?" 
GambUng  devices  are  also  found  in  saloons  and  halls,  furnished 
by  saloon-keepers  for  the  use  of  the  foreign-speaking,  where 
they  meet  for  a  friendly  game. 

Labor  Organizations.  —  Many  labor  organizations  are  found 
among  the  immigrants.  Possibly  the  best  perfected  labor  or- 
ganizations among  foreigners  are  those  of  the  garment  workers, 
but  strong  unions  are  also  found  among  men  of  other  trades.  In 
Yonkers  the  masons  and  bricklayers  are  well  organized,  and  the 
head  of  the  organization  said  that  it  practically  controlled  these 
trades  in  that  town  and  \'icinity.  The  majority  of  the  members 
were  foreign-born.  In  the  textile  industries  a  large  number  of 
French  Canadians  are  weavers  and  are  well  organized.  The 
Poles  and  Lithuanians  who  have  looms  are  also  members  of  the 
union.  In  the  iron  ore  district  in  Michigan,  the  Finns  have 
organized  many  sociaUstic  clubs  which  are  nothing  more  than  an 
outcome  of  defeated  efforts  in  organization  along  trade  vmion 


SOCIETIES 


lines.  These  Finnish  clubs  are  earnest  efforts  to  bring  about 
better  industrial  conditions  by  legislation,  but  their  activity 
is  almost  wholly  confined  to  local  political  action.  They  serve, 
however,  as  social  centers  where  the  people  meet  for  the  public 
discussion  of  economic  and  political  questions.  In  the  coal 
mining  industry,  as  well  as  in  that  of  iron  and  steel,  the  members 
of  the  new  immigration  are  being  organized  more  and  more  into 
imions  along  racial  lines.  Men  from  among  the  foreign-speaking 
workers  are  chosen  as  district  organizers  and  set  to  work  to  or- 
ganize their  countrymen  into  local  branches.  These  foreign- 
born  union  members,  in  times  of  industrial  dispute,  fight  most 
stubbornly  for  an  advance  in  wage  or  better  working  conditions. 
Wherever  branches  of  labor  unions  are  installed  among  immi- 
grants, they  become  efficient  agencies  for  the  breaking  down  of 
the  wall  of  partition  between  the  English-speaking  and  the  for- 
eign-speaking, and  are  potent  factors  in  the  work  of  social  amal- 
gamation. 

Foreigners  in  Labor  Unions. — The  extent  of  the  influence  of 
labor  organizations,  however,  is  not  large.  Of  the  employees 
in  the  thirty-seven  industries,  investigated  by  the  Immigration 
Commission,  in  which  60  per  cent  of  the  employees  were  for- 
eign-born, the  percentage  in  labor  organizations  was  only  13.4.^ 
That  of  the  native-born  of  native  parentage  was  less  than  i  per 
cent  higher.  The  percentage  of  foreign-born  workers  in  labor 
organizations  does  not  indicate  their  desire  to  join,  as  much  as 
the  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  them  by  the  English-speak- 
ing men  in  the  industry.  If  we  take  the  men  of  the  old  immigra- 
tion and  compare  them  with  those  of  the  new,  the  difference  in 
the  percentage  belonging  to  labor  organizations  is  not  large, 
15.9  of  the  former  and  14.7  of  the  latter.  The  foreign-born 
workers  will  not  pay  regularly  to  the  union.  They  are  bent  on 
saving,  and  the  number  of  organizers  necessary  to  keep  in  line  the 
various  nationalities  involves  a  heavy  expense  to  the  members. 
In  industries  fairly  well  organized,  such  as  mining,  weaving, 
some  plants  of  the  iron  and  steel  works,  the  foreigners  are  most  zeal- 
ous in  the  cause  when  rumors  of  conflict  are  in  the  air ;  as  soon  as 
1  See  Abstract  of  Report  on  "  Immigrants  in  Manufacturing  and  Mining,"  p.  141. 


196 


TEE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


peace  is  restored,  they  fall  away  rapidly.  There  is  something 
in  the  way  trade  unionism  is  carried  on  that  does  not  appeal  to 
the  practical  judgment  of  the  Slav,  Lithuanian,  and  Magyar. 
If  the  leaders  in  the  trades  union  movement  were  to  study  more 
closely  the  artel  system  in  industries,  and  the  communal  system 
in  agriculture,  with  which  the  foreign-speaking  peoples  employed 
in  manufacturing  and  mining  industries  in  America  are  accus- 
tomed, and  adapt  these  to  the  industrial  situation  in  the  United 
States,  they  might  get  better  results.  The  labor  organization 
might  become  an  agent  of  far  greater  efl&ciency  in  Americanizing 
foreigners,  if  it  were  made  more  acceptable  to  their  taste  and 
financial  ideas. 

National  Societies.  —  Among  the  new  immigrants  are  also 
found  national  alliances,  which  are  organized  along  racial  lines. 
The  Poles,  Lithuanians,  Slovaks,  Bohemians,  Slovenians, 
Croatians,  Servians,  Bulgarians,  Magyars,  etc.,  have  each  their 
national  organization.  The  Slovak  National  Society,  as  de- 
scribed by  P.  V.  Rovnianeck,  is  typical  of  the  purpose  of  each 
one  of  the  others.  "  It  is  primarily  a  beneficial  organization, 
but  it  has  besides  done  a  work  in  the  education  of  its  members 
and  in  inducing  them  and  those  who  come  under  their  influence 
to  become  American  citizens  ...  it  keeps  the  Slav  spirit  alive 
among  the  immigrants.  It  is  always  the  first  to  contribute  to 
Slovak  national  purposes.  ...  It  has  come  to  the  rescue  of 
Slavs  in  Hungary,  who  are  persecuted  by  the  government,  .  .  . 
providing  the  money  for  the  defense  at  their  trials,  and  in  cases 
where  they  are  convicted  and  imprisoned  supporting  their  fami- 
lies until  released."  In  the  Polish  National  Alliance  the  leading 
Poles  of  America  are  members,  and  this  powerful  organization  is 
doing  much  to  aid  patriots  in  Europe  and  to  smooth  the  way 
for  those  coming  to  America.  It  has  opened,  in  New  York  City, 
a  Polish  Home  at  an  expense  of  $80,000  where  Polish  immigrants 
may  be  temporarily  sheltered.  The  Hungarian  government  has 
taken  cognizance  of  the  Magyar  National  Society  by  sending 
emissaries  from  Europe  to  inquire  into  the  status  of  this  organ- 
ization. The  purpose  of  the  organization  is  pretty  much  the 
same  as  that  of  the  Slovaks  as  far  as  naturalization  is  concerned, 


SOCIETIES 


197 


but  the  Hungarian  Government  does  not  like  to  lose  its  children 
—  it  is  anxious  that  Magyars  should  retain  their  allegiance  to 
the  fatherland.  This  has  precipitated  factions,  rent  the  organiza- 
tion, and  has  disturbed  the  peace  of  every  Hungarian  colony 
of  any  size  in  the  United  States. 

Pan-ethnic  Societies.  — The  Pan-Slavic,  the  Pan-Hellenic, 
and  the  Pan-Bulgarian  movements  have  their  advocates  in  this 
country.  The  effort  of  these  organizations  is  to  brmg  together 
into  mutual  understanding  and  helpfulness  the  various  members 
of  their  respective  races,  scattered  in  many  countries.  These 
movements  are  strong  in  Europe,  have  been  jealously  watched 
by  Germany,  Austro-Hungary,  and  Turkey.  Internal  dissension 
has  impeded  the  progress  of  each  of  the  organizations,  and  the 
feuds  already  referred  to  between  representatives  of  these  races 
in  America  give  little  assurance  of  success  in  this  respect  in  the 
new  world.  The  Pole  and  the  Slovak,  the  Croat  and  the 
Russian,  are  as  far  apart  here  as  they  are  in  the  fatherland. 

Helping  the  Unfortunates.  —  The  several  types  of  societies 
above  referred  to  are  agencies  of  great  good  among  the  foreign- 
born.  The  amount  of  social  upbuilding  and  ameUoration  done 
by  them  among  the  members  and  others  of  their  people  is  beyond 
computation.  Thousands  of  men  are  helped  every  year  ;  they 
send  hundreds  of  maimed  back  to  Europe  annually ;  they  bury 
the  ones  who  die  without  means  of  interment ;  and  thousands  of 
widows  and  orphans  are  helped.  The  following  instance  of 
serNdce  rendered  by  one  of  these  organizations  is  typical.  In  a 
mining  town,  an  epidemic  of  typhoid  fever  broke  out.  The  for- 
eigners suffered  heavily  and  Httle  help  was  given  the  victims. 
One  of  them,  a  Croatian,  in  his  delirium  jumped  out  of  the  window 
of  the  room  and  ran  down  the  creek.  The  snow  lay  deep  on  the 
ground  and  the  poor  fellow  lay  in  it  and  was  found  frozen  to 
death  the  following  morning.  The  body  was  carried  to  the 
boarding  house,  but  the  woman  objected  to  taking  in  the  corpse, 
for  the  reason  that  he  left  no  money  and  she  could  not  bear  the 
expense  of  burial.  The  officer  of  the  town,  however,  ordered  the 
body  to  be  carried  into  the  boarding  house  and  the  woman  gave 
it  room  in  the  kitchen.    The  body  lay  there  three  days,  when  the 


198 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


members  of  the  national  organization  in  town  made  an  appro- 
priation and  gave  the  man  a  Christian  burial.  A  young  Pole, 
the  fingers  of  whose  right  hand  were  crushed  so  badly  that 
amputation  was  necessary,  was  sent  back  to  Poland  by  the 
Polish  society,  where  he  could  live  in  greater  peace  and  comfort 
than  in  America. 

Uplifting  Agencies.  —  These  societies  are  a  power  for  good  in 
the  uplift  of  the  foreigner  which  none  can  estimate.  In  discus- 
sing the  foreigner  we  seldom  think  of  their  own  societies  as 
efiicient  agencies  in  their  amelioration.  Suppose  patriotic  so- 
cieties of  native-born  men  were  to  join  hands  with  the  National 
Polish  Alliance  in  a  campaign  of  patriotic  instruction  in  PoUsh 
communities  in  the  United  States,  who  could  estimate  the  good 
they  would  accomplish  ?  There  is  not  a  branch  of  the  organiza- 
tion in  the  country  which  would  not  open  its  doors  to  a  safe 
lecturer  or  teacher,  and  the  same  is  true  of  every  other  national 
society  among  the  men  of  the  new  immigration.  Americans 
ask,  "  What  can  we  do  for  the  foreigner?  "  instead  of  asking, 
"  'WTiat  can  the  foreigner  do  for  himself  with  the  help  of  the 
native-born  ?  "  In  every  place  where  good  work  has  been  done 
among  immigrants,  the  cooperation  of  the  foreign-born  society 
or  leader  has  been  secured.  It  is  a  mistake  to  think  that  the 
leaders  in  these  large  societies  do  not  appreciate  what  America 
stands  for  and  are  not  ambitious  for  the  advancement  of  their 
people.  They  are  doing  much  for  their  health,  protection,  and 
education,  but  they  would  do  more  if  sympathetic  Americans 
would  give  them  a  helping  hand. 

A  Leader  who  Leads.  —  An  instance  where  one  of  these  leaders 
took  the  matter  of  education  in  hand  will  not  be  out  of  place 
here.  He  was  the  secretary  of  a  Slovak  society  in  the  city  of 
Bridgeport.  WTien  we  called  on  him,  and  presented  a  program 
of  work  to  help  the  young  Slovaks  of  town  to  a  knowledge  of 
English,  the  duties  and  obligations  of  citizenship,  American 
history,  etc.,  he  said,  "  I'll  put  it  before  the  society  next  Sunday 
evening."  He  kept  his  word  and  wrote  us  the  following  morn- 
ing setting  a  date  for  the  meeting  and  said  that  it  would  be  held 
in  the  school  building  of  the  church.    We  went  there  and 


SOCIETIES 


199 


seventy-five  men  were  assembled  and  ready  to  begin  work. 
The  organizer  took  the  group  in  hand,  organized  them  into 
classes,  put  teachers  in  charge,  and  carried  on  definite  educational 
work.  The  secretary  kept  his  hand  on  the  movement  and 
during  that  winter  no  fewer  than  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
men  of  that  nationality  were  definitely  helped  to  become  future 
Americans.  We  would  not  have  been  able  to  do  this  if  he  had 
not  opened  the  door.  When  the  teachers  appeared  on  the 
scene,  they  came  as  friends  and  the  welcome  given  was  hearty. 
There  was  no  suspicion,  no  hesitation,  and  when  a  lecture  was 
proposed,  the  knowledge  of  it  was  rapidly  spread  and  it  was 
easy  to  get  an  audience. 

There  are  no  fewer  than  a  million  Slavs  organized  into  clubs, 
societies,  and  orders  of  various  kinds,  and  this  means  thousands 
of  local  assemblies  where  men  are  wont  to  meet.  With  the 
aid  of  the  national  organizations,  the  doors  of  these  local  branches 
could  be  thrown  open  to  illustrated  lectures  and  talks  by  men 
who  could  speak  upon  American  institutions  and  ideals,  and 
who  would  be  able  to  help  the  foreigners  to  adjust  their  lives  to 
the  coimtry  of  their  adoption.  Will  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution, 
the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  the  Patriotic  Sons 
of  America,  and  kindred  organizations  do  this?  Let  them  call 
the  foreign-born  leader  to  sit  side  by  side  with  the  native-born 
patriot  to  discuss  plans  and  methods,  having  in  view  the 
saturating  of  colonies  of  foreign-speaking  men  in  our  cities  with 
American  ideas  and  ideals. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


CHURCHES 

In  foreign-speaking  colonies  of  10,000  population  and  over, 
many  magnificent  churches  are  buUt.  Religion  forms  an  essen- 
tial part  of  the  life  of  the  southeastern  European,  and  much 
money  is  spent  on  church  edifices  where  the  faithful  may  wor- 
ship. In  Shenandoah,  Pa.,  the  foreigners  have  invested  no 
less  than  $100,000  in  church  property  and  the  total  population 
is  a  little  over  30,000,  of  whom  80  per  cent  are  either  foreign-bom 
or  descendants  of  foreign-born  parents.  In  Buffalo  the  most 
imposing  church  building  is  that  of  St.  Stanislaus,  built  by  the 
Poles.  The  churches  built  by  the  foreigners  on  the  South  Side 
of  Pittsburgh  are  far  more  magnificent  than  any  built  by  their 
predecessors  —  the  men  of  the  old  immigration.  The  same  is 
true  of  towns  and  cities  in  New  Jersey  and  New  England.  A 
church  in  Pawtucket,  R.I.,  has  mural  decorations  that  are 
superb.  It  is  impossible  to  state  how  much  money  the  peoples 
of  southeastern  Europe  have  put  into  stone  and  wood,  in  win- 
dow and  altar,  in  art  and  music,  for  the  purpose  of  worshiping 
God,  but  it  is  safe  to  put  it  at  $10  per  capita,  which  would  make 
a  sum  of  not  less  than  $75,000,000.  ^  When  they  come,  they  are 
poor,  having  less  than  $16  each ;  they  get  the  lowest  wage  in 
the  industries  of  America,  but  when  the  appeal  for  funds  is 
made  to  put  up  a  church  to  worship  God,  these  people  respond. 
And  it  is  absurd  to  say  that  aU  this  wealth  molded  into  sacred 

'  In  the  dioceses  of  Boston,  Greater  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Buffalo,  Cleveland, 
and  Milwaukee,  356  churches  are  devoted  to  the  religious  worship  of  men  of  the 
new  immigration.  This  does  not  give  all  the  buildings  dedicated  to  their  services, 
for  the  returns  in  the  Catholic  Directory  do  not  always  sp)ecify  the  nationaUty 
worshiping  in  a  church,  while  two  or  three  nationalities  may  worship  in  the  same 
church. 

200 


CHURCHES 


201 


structure  is  forced  out  of  the  people  by  ecclesiastical  terror. 
The  foreigner  is  not  long  in  America  before  he  knows  that  there 
is  no  connection  between  the  government  and  the  church 
and  that  the  faith  of  his  fathers  and  the  service  of  God  must 
be  preserved  and  propagated  by  voluntary  contributions,  and 
no  priest  could  compel  the  people  to  give  freely  of  their  sub- 
stance to  this  purpose  if  their  religious  faith  and  love  of  sacred 
ideals  did  not  impel  them. 

Roman  Catholics  Coming.  —  When  the  immigration  stream 
runs  at  the  rate  of  1,000,000  a  year,  more  than  600,000  of  the 
total  landed  in  America  are  Roman  Catholics.  During  the  last 
twenty  years,  the  total  number  of  immigrants  entering  the 
United  States,  adherents  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  can- 
not be  less  than  10,000,000  souls.  Never  in  the  history  of  the 
world  has  a  religious  organization  faced  an  obligation  such  as 
that  confronting  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  the  United 
States,  because  of  the  incoming  tide  from  Europe.  To  shepherd 
these  millions  of  souls  speaking  thirty  different  tongues,  each 
race  having  its  idiosyncrasies  that  make  it  difficult  for  ecclesi- 
astical leaders  trained  in  English-speaking  countries  to  under- 
stand how  best  to  adjust  the  machinery  of  the  church  to  meet 
their  needs  in  the  new  world ;  to  house  them  in  churches ;  to 
soothe  racial  prejudice  so  that  men  who  cherish  antipathies  and 
hatred  may  sit  in  the  same  pew  and  worship  under  the  same 
priest ;  to  secure  an  adequate  number  of  priests  of  the  various 
nationalities;  to  reconcile  them  to  superiors  having  different 
ideals  from  those  in  authority  in  Europe ;  to  make  it  possible 
for  the  priests  of  eight  different  nations  in  one  city  to  cooperate 
that  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  of  that  city  may  be  one  and 
not  divided  —  these  are  the  problems  that  no  ecclesiastical 
body  before,  in  the  history  of  the  Christian  faith,  has  been 
called  upon  to  solve.  They  have  precipitated  questions  and 
difficulties  which  have  put  a  strain  and  stress  upon  the  Roman 
Catholic  leaders  in  America  that  none  outside  of  that  circle 
can  understand  or  appreciate.  Many  educated  and  intelligent 
men,  outside  the  pale  of  that  church,  have  criticized  its  short- 
comings in  meeting  this  great  need  —  they  should  rather  study 


202 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


the  problem  and  sympathize  with  the  men  who  face  so  grave  a 
responsibility.  The  Catholic  church  has  done  and  is  still  doing 
a  great  work  for  the  foreign-speaking  people  in  America ;  if  its 
beneficent  influence  were  removed,  the  millions  of  the  new 
immigration  would  be  far  more  lawless  and  reckless  than  they 
are.  The  teachings  and  leadings  of  this  religious  organization 
are  a  defense  to  both  the  secular  and  moral  institutions  of  the 
country. 

Replacement  of  Worshipers.  —  The  foreigners  in  cities,  as 
before  stated,  occupy  sections  once  inhabited  by  the  English- 
speaking,  and  the  religious  edifices  in  them,  formerly  used  by 
the  men  of  the  old  immigration,  often  pass  into  the  hands  of  the 
new.  A  section  in  Chicago,  once  occupied  by  Germans  and 
Scandinavians,  is  now  taken  up  by  Jews  and  Poles,  and  in 
the  place  of  Protestant  churches  are  found  synagogues  and 
Roman  Catholic  edifices.  The  situation  in  South  Side,  Pitts- 
burgh, is  typical  of  hundreds  of  other  places  where  this  change 
takes  place.  The  Servians  bought  out  the  building  used  by  the 
German  Lutherans,  the  Slovaks  bought  out  the  church  building 
of  the  Methodist  Protestants,  the  Croatians  bought  out  the 
edifice  of  the  Methodists,  the  Lithuanians  bought  out  another 
building  of  the  same  denomination,  the  Greeks  bought  out 
the  building  of  the  Lutherans,  while  the  churches  of  the 
Baptists  and  Congregationalists  have  been  purchased  by  other 
peoples  of  southeastern  Europe,  now  residing  in  this  part  of 
the  city.  In  every  city  of  industrial  importance  in  the  North 
Atlantic  and  North  Central  states,  this  transference  of  sacred 
edifices  goes  on.  Instances  are  found  in  New  York,  Phila- 
delphia, Chicago,  etc.,  of  Protestant  denominations  honestly 
trying  to  hold  the  fort  and  adapt  their  work  to  the  need  of  the 
new  immigrants.  These  are  exceptions,  however.  The  rule  is  to 
abandon  the  field  and  give  v/ay  to  religious  forms  better  adapted 
to  meet  the  taste  of  the  newcomers. 

All  Romanists  do  not  Agree.  —  It  is  not  always  easy  to  meet 
the  tastes  of  the  foreign-speaking  in  forms  of  worship.  In  a 
town  in  New  England,  a  group  of  foreigners  had  the  privilege  of 
using  the  edifice  of  the  Irish-Americans.    When  the  aliens  built 


CHURCHES 


203 


a  church  of  their  own,  members  of  the  English-speaking  congre- 
gation were  very  happy,  for  one  of  them  said,  "  You  couldn't 
leave  a  pocket  handkerchief  or  a  pocketbook  on  the  seat  but  a 
foreigner  would  immediately  pick  it  up."  An  English-speaking 
priest  in  New  Jersey,  whose  duty  it  was  to  look  after  the  for- 
eigners in  his  parish,  was  greatly  concerned  about  their  spiritual 
interest  and  said,  "  I  want  to  bring  a  foreigner  to  confess  these 
people  before  Easter,  so  that  they  may  come  to  communion." 
The  Uniates,  such  as  the  Lithuanians,  Ruthenians,  etc.,  give 
more  concern  to  ecclesiastical  authorities  than  do  the  Romanists, 
such  as  the  Poles,  the  Slovaks,  Magyars,  etc.  The  Uniates 
recognize  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope  of  Rome,  but  retain  the 
rites  and  doctrines  of  the  Greek  church,  to  which  communion 
they  formerly  belonged.  Hence  in  these  churches,  the  cup  is 
given  the  laity  in  the  sacrament,  the  priests  marry,  divorces 
are  granted  in  certain  cases,  the  mass  is  celebrated  in  the  lan- 
guage the  people  can  understand,  and  the  priest  is  called  and 
dismissed  by  the  board  of  directors.  These  usages  were  once 
condemned  by  the  Pope,  but  when  the  Jesuits  brought  certain 
peoples  of  the  Greek  Orthodox  church  into  the  Roman  fold,  the 
compromise  was  agreed  to  —  if  they  recognized  the  Pope  they 
could  retain  the  Greek  usages.  As  long  as  these  people  remained 
in  Europe,  in  close  proximity  to  the  Greek  church,  the  dis- 
crepancies between  them  and  their  Catholic  co-religionists  were 
not  apparent ;  but  when  they  come  to  America,  exercising  the 
privileges  granted  them  by  the  compromise,  and  still  call  them- 
selves Roman  Catholics,  the  differences  become  very  embarrass- 
ing, hard  to  explain  to  the  faithful,  and  obnoxious  to  priests 
who  are  staunch  believers  in  the  canonical  law.  The  Croats 
are  faithful  Catholics,  but  they  insist  that  the  mass  be  said  in 
"  Old  Slavic  "  or  "  Glagolitza,"  and  every  effort  made  to  have 
them  adopt  the  Latin  litany  has  failed.  Ecclesiastical  authority 
has,  in  its  effort  to  introduce  the  Latin  form,  gone  as  far  as  to 
close  their  church ;  the  people  have  preferred  that  to  taking 
away  the  Old  Slavic  tongue.  The  Ruthenians  and  the  Walla- 
chians  are  affected  by  this  inharmonious  relation  more  than  any 
other  people ;  it  has  led  to  many  disputes,  lawsuits,  and  schisms 


204 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


in  this  country.^  Friction,  because  of  these  differences,  accounts 
for  the  independent  Greek  church  of  Canada,  which  ha:s  some 
eighty  congregations  made  up  wholly  of  Ruthenians.  The 
movement  is  Roman  Catholic  in  form,  but  Protestant  in  spirit. 
The  priests  insist  upon  ordination,  they  retain  the  seven  sacra- 
ments, the  Greek  rites  are  used,  but  the  government  is  Presby- 
terian, they  expound  the  Scripture  and  do  preaching,  but  they 
also  remember  the  patriarch  of  Jerusalem  in  their  prayers.  Some- 
times Roman  Catholic  priests  serve  men  of  the  Greek  Orthodox 
faith.  When  the  Servians  first  came  to  Pittsburgh,  they  had  no 
priest,  so  they  were  served  by  the  Catholic  clergy,  who  possibly 
did  not  know  that  they  served  men  of  a  different  faith.  They  used 
to  bury  their  dead  in  the  German  Catholic  cemetery,  but  when  a 
Servian  priest  came  on  the  field,  the  practice  was  at  once  changed. 

The  Greek  Orthodox.  —  Greek  Orthodox  congregations  are 
found  in  the  country.  There  are  three  tj'pes :  the  Servian, 
which  recognizes  the  headship  of  the  Servian  church,  an  autono- 
mous body,  although  in  usage  identical  with  the  Russian  church ; 
the  Greek,  which  recognizes  the  headship  of  the  Patriarch  of 
Constantinople,  but  its  rites  and  ceremonies  are  similar  to  those 
of  the  Servians  and  Russians ;  the  Russian,  which  recognizes 
the  headship  of  the  Patriarch  of  St.  Petersburg  and  the  Czar 
of  Russia.  The  Bulgarians  are  like  the  Servians  in  religious 
usages,  but  turn  their  faces  more  to  Constantinople  than  to 
St.  Petersburg.  In  these  congregations  the  title  of  the  property 
rests  in  a  board  of  trustees,  and  the  congregations  also  have  a 
voice  in  the  selection  and  dismissal  of  the  priest.  WQien  in 
Milwaukee  we  asked  the  Greek  priest  for  the  use  of  the  vestry 
to  hold  a  meeting  on  a  week  night  for  a  group  of  Greeks,  he 
referred  us  to  the  head  of  the  Greek  congregation,  who  was  the 

'  The  Greek  Catholic  churches  or  congregations  enjoyed  considerable  freedom 
before  the  arrival  of  a  Greek  Catholic  Bishop,  in  1907.  They  were  incorporated, 
their  affairs  were  managed  by  boards  of  directors  and  trustees,  composed  wholly 
of  lay  members.  The  priest  was  called  and  removed  by  the  directors  and  the 
voice  of  the  congregation  was  supreme  in  all  matters.  Since  the  coming  of  the 
Bishop,  many  congregations  have  given  up  their  charters  so  that  the  property 
and  the  management  of  affairs  are  in  the  hands  of  the  Bishop  and  the  priests. 
Many  congregations,  however,  resent  this  transference  of  property  and  authority, 
and  discontentment  is  the  result. 


CHURCHES 


205 


authorized  party  to  give  permission.  This  was  very  different 
from  the  attitude  of  a  Slovak  priest  interviewed  on  precisely  the 
same  service,  who  said,  "  I  would  give  it  you  gladly,  but  if 
the  Bishop  came  to  know  of  it,  I  would  get  into  trouble." 

Foreigners  have  Many  Faiths.  —  We  have  representatives  of 
many  other  faiths  among  the  new  immigration.  One  of  these  is 
the  Nazarites,  a  sect  resembling  the  Bogomiles  of  Russia,  and 
not  imlike  the  Quakers.  A  congregation  of  them  in  Barberton, 
Ohio,  is  led  by  a  man  of  superior  ability  and  refinement.  The 
meekness  and  simpUcity  he  exhibited  while  explaining  the  faith 
of  which  he  was  proud  were  worthy  of  imitation  by  men  of 
large  religious  influence.  Many  Slovaks  and  Magyars  are 
Protestants,  but  the  majority  of  them  are  lost  to  Christian 
influence,  because  of  the  preponderating  number  of  Catholics 
in  the  communities  where  they  live.  They  are  carried  with  the 
tide  away  from  the  faith  of  their  childhood  into  no  faith.  Protes- 
tant missionaries  are  sent  to  labor  among  these  peoples,  but 
their  labors  are  rather  unsatisfactory  because  of  the  difficulties 
of  the  work.  Protestantism  in  southeastern  Europe  differs 
greatly  from  the  type  found  in  America.  The  pastor  of  a  Mag- 
yar church  will,  on  a  Sunday  evening,  sit  with  his  board  smoking 
cigarettes  and  drinking  black  coffee,  while  a  moving  picture  show 
goes  on  in  the  church.  Another  foreign-speaking  clergyman 
was  busy  on  a  Sunday  evening  going  from  house  to  house 
collecting  his  salary  while  the  church  doors  were  closed  —  the 
Lord's  day  being  an  opportune  occasion  to  catch  all  the  men. 
Some  of  these  ministers  have  high  regard  for  the  auditorium  al- 
though it  may  be  nothing  more  than  a  rented  store.  An  Italian 
missionary  in  Chicago,  held  services  in  a  rented  storeroom  which 
was  simply  furnished,  but  he  was  not  willing  to  have  the  room 
used  for  social  work.  "  The  place  was  dedicated  for  the  worship 
of  God."  A  Magyar  congregation,  in  Yonkers,  wanted  com- 
munion, but  had  no  service  for  the  occasion.  The  pastor  in  whose 
church  they  worshiped,  said,  "  You  can  have  the  use  of  the 
service  used  by  our  church."  But  the  leaders  said,  "  We  can't 
take  communion  from  a  borrowed  service"  ;  they  bought  one 
of  their  own.    But  this  high  idealism  is  far  from  common. 


2o6 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


Some  churches  hold  picnics  at  wliich  cigars  and  beer  are  sold, 
dancing  and  gambling  are  indulged  in  —  anything  to  catch  the 
dollar.  Some  Protestant  missionaries,  working  among  the 
foreigners,  put  the  cross  over  the  church.  I  asked  one  of  these 
why  he  placed  the  symbol  over  his  mission,  and  his  answer  was, 
"  To  refute  the  words  of  Catholics  who  say  that  we  do  not 
believe  in  Christ."  When  I  asked  a  Slav  Catholic  what  he 
thought  of  the  symbol  over  the  mission,  he  said,  "  It's  a  ruse  to 
induce  us  to  enter  the  building." 

Foreigners  are  very  Religious.  —  The  immigrants  from  south- 
eastern Europe  are  very  rehgious ;  indeed,  it  may  be  said  that 
they  are  too  rehgious,  and  are  given  to  much  superstition.  They 
are  not  long  in  the  country,  however,  before  the  spirit  of  America 
soon  works  a  perceptible  change.  Men  who  are  thoroughly 
Americanized  do  not  have  the  same  deference  to  the  priesthood 
nor  the  same  servile  attitude  to  the  church  as  they  once  had. 
In  a  city  in  New  York,  accompanied  by  an  Americanized  Pole, 
I  called  on  the  Polish  priest.  In  the  office  at  the  time  sat  a 
Pole  recently  come  from  Europe.  As  soon  as  the  priest  appeared 
the  recent  immigrant  rose,  bowed  reverently,  took  his  proffered 
hand,  kissed  it  devoutly,  and  resumed  his  seat  at  a  sign  from  the 
Father ;  the  older  immigrant  rose,  did  not  bow,  said,  "  Good  eve- 
ning, Father,"  shook  his  hand,  and  resumed  his  seat.  WTien  in 
Brooklyn  interviewing  the  Lithuanians,  I  asked  one  of  them  if 
his  people  went  to  church.  "  Greenies  go,"  he  rephed,  "  but 
Lithuanians  in  America  five  or  eight  years  don't  go ;  they,  like 
Protestants,  no  go  to  church."  One  of  the  comforting  and 
promising  sights  in  a  Sla\dc  or  Lithuanian  colony  is  the  number 
attending  di\ane  service  on  Simdays.  In  a  Lithuanian  church 
on  the  South  Side  of  Pittsburgh,  the  number  of  persons  attending 
mass  on  Sunday  was  about  1500  souls,  nine-tenths  of  whom  were 
males  —  young  men  in  the  heyday  of  their  strength.  Half  a 
dozen  gray  heads  were  seen  in  the  throng  and  I  asked,  "Are  those 
gray-haired  people  Lithuanians?  "  "  No,"  was  the  reply,  "  they 
are  Irish  and  German  —  too  old  to  go  to  their  o-^vti  church, 
they  come  here  to  worship."  What  a  contrast  this  was  to  the 
average  Protestant  congregation  in  which  four  females  may  be 


CHURCHES 


207 


counted  for  every  male.  The  scene  around  a  Greek  church  on 
festive  days  is  worth  witnessing.  When  the  images  of  the  Virgin 
and  the  saints  are  carried  around  the  church,  the  devout  kneel 
on  the  pavement,  on  the  lawn,  on  the  street,  anywhere,  as  they 
bow  reverently  before  the  sacred  symbol.  The  spirit  of  worship 
in  these  people  is  a  phenomenon  that  cannot  be  found  elsewhere 
in  any  community.  The  men  of  the  new  immigration  flock  to 
the  churches  and  support  their  priests  fairly  well.  This  is  espe- 
cially true  of  the  Slav.  The  Italian  is  more  indifferent.  Italian 
men  will  not  attend  church.  In  communities  of  5000  Italians, 
one  church  can  hardly  be  supported,  whereas  in  a  similar  colony 
of  Slavs,  two  would  be  amply  sustained.  In  an  Italian  church 
in  a  city  in  New  York  state,  the  majority  of  the  congregation  was 
Irish.  I  asked  a  prominent  Catholic,  "  How  is  it  the  Irish  wor- 
ship in  the  Italian  church?  "  "  Well,"  said  he,  "  most  of  them 
are  shirkers  —  they  can  get  religion  cheap  there,  but  they  have 
to  pay  for  it  in  their  own  church."  In  a  small  town  in  the  same 
state,  the  Italians  petitioned  the  Bishop  for  a  church.  He  replied 
that  the  place  was  too  small  to  support  two  churches,  that  they 
should  worship  in  the  Roman  Catholic  church  of  the  town.  The 
Irish- Americans  objected,  however,  for  the  reason  that  the  Ital- 
ians "  won't  pay  pew  rent." 

No  State  Church  not  Understood.  —  The  foreign-speaking 
men  of  southeastern  Europe  cannot  understand  why  it  is  neces- 
sary to  support  the  church  in  America  by  voluntary  contribu- 
tions. In  the  fatherland,  the  priest  was  paid  by  the  government, 
the  church  was  built  by  the  government,  current  expenses  were 
provided  for  by  the  landed  gentry  or  the  government.  The 
poor  man  contributed  nothing  and  took  all  the  privileges  offered. 
Here  it  is  wholly  different ;  church  and  state  are  separated,  but 
many  of  these  ignorant  and  illiterate  immigrants  cannot  under- 
stand it.  Many  Italian  priests  cannot  get  a  living  out  of  the 
people  whom  they  serve,  because  of  this  very  reason.  The 
intelligent  members  of  the  flock  understand  the  situation,  but 
the  ignorant  shake  their  heads  and  say,  "  It  is  buying  religion." 
The  priest  tries  to  explain,  but  to  no  purpose,  —  "  it  is  wrong  for  a 
priest  to  want  money."    In  one  of  the  towns  not  far  from  New 


208 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


York  City,  the  priest  posts  a  notice  on  the  church  door  stating 
that  every  one  coming  into  that  church  must  pay  5  cents  for 
his  seat.  In  the  city  of  Utica,  the  ItaUans  are  supposed  to 
be  between  12,000  and  15,000  souls,  and  one  ItaUan  church  can 
hardly  be  maintained.  An  intelligent  Italian  in  Montpelier,  Vt., 
explained  why  he  did  not  go  to  church :  "  Mother  fed  me  too 
much  religion  in  Italy  and  my  stomach  is  against  it."  Another 
Italian  said,  "  The  conduct  of  many  priests  in  Italy  accounts 
for  the  indifference  of  the  Itahans  to  the  church."  The  penxiri- 
ousness  of  the  Italian  also  accounts  for  this  conduct.  The  only 
time  they  open  the  strings  of  their  purses  is  on  festas.  On  these 
occasions  they  spend  money  freely  and  take  great  delight  in 
the  parade.  The  image  of  the  Virgin  or  that  of  a  saint  carried 
through  the  streets  of  Little  Italy,  in  the  Empire  City,  will  be 
covered  with  dollar  greenbacks,  and  the  priest  must  look  to  it 
that  he  makes  the  best  of  the  money  then  received,  for  little  else 
•will  he  get  imtil  another  festa  comes  round.  The  Slavs  are  very 
different ;  they  attend  and  support  their  churches  admirably. 
Their  conception  of  religion  may  not  differ  from  that  of  the 
Italian,  but  they  support  the  church.  The  vast  majority  of 
the  men  of  the  new  immigration  look  upon  the  ceremonies  of  the 
church  in  a  simple,  straightforward  way,  ask  blessings  on  home, 
and  work  on  the  quid  pro  quo  principle ;  but  the  Italians  take  it 
in  large  doses  on  festive  days,  while  the  Slavs  are  constant  and 
steadfast  in  their  attendance  on  church  ceremonies.  A  Lithua- 
nian priest  in  Kenosha,  Wis.,  who  had  served  among  the  Mexicans 
in  San  x\ntonio,  said,  "Mexicans  are  fimny;  they  come  to 
church  thrice  in  their  life  —  to  be  baptized,  married,  and  buried 
—  give  me  the  Lithuanians."  Many  Italians  in  America  wholly 
forsake  the  church  and  get  along  without  the  service  of  the  priest 
or  preacher.  In  Barre,  Vt.,  3000  Italians  are  foimd  and  no  reli- 
gious services  of  any  kind  are  held  among  them.  They  do  not 
baptize  their  children,  the  young  people  are  married  by  the  magis- 
trate, and  they  bury  their  dead  -^^-ithout  reUgious  ceremony.  All 
the  colony  is  made  up  of  northern  Itahans. 

Drifting  from  the  Church.  —  Many  of  the  new  immigrants 
leave  the  faith  of  their  fathers  when  they  come  to  this  country. 


CHURCHES 


209 


No  statistics  are  available  upon  the  question,  but  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  the  percentage  of  men  among  Catholics,  Protestants,  and 
Jews  giving  up  the  faith  of  their  fathers  is  large.  Especially  is  this 
true  of  the  young  men  of  every  nation.  Among  the  younger  men 
from  Scandinavia  and  Finland,  Russia,  and  Italy,  the  teachings 
of  Socialism  have  a  great  attraction.  A  college  young  man, 
working  with  a  group  of  Jewish  boys,  was  assisted  by  a  young 
Hebrew,  and  discussing  the  work  one  evening,  the  Gentile  said, 
"  I  don't  teach  Christianity  to  the  boys."  "  Why  not?  "  asked 
the  Jew.  "  Well,  I  don't  think  it  is  right,"  replied  the  college  man. 
"  You  can  teach  it,"  said  the  Hebrew,  "  it  won't  make  any  dif- 
ference —  I  don't  believe  in  Judaism  or  Christianity  —  I'm 
a  socialist."  An  Italian,  in  Baltimore,  broke  away  from  his 
church,  but  found  great  difficulty  with  his  wife,  who  was  a  loyal 
adherent  of  the  Catholic  faith.  There  was  no  peace  at  home 
and  hence  he  resolved  to  convert  her.  He  locked  her  in  a 
room,  placed  a  Protestant  Bible  on  a  table,  and  said,  "  Here 
you'll  stay  and  you  can't  come  out  until  you  are  a  Protestant." 
The  man  apparently  effected  his  purpose  and  celebrated  his 
victory  by  placing  a  card  over  the  door  of  the  house  on  which 
was  written,  "  This  is  the  house  of  a  Christian,  no  blasphemy, 
no  drink,  no  gambling  can  take  place  in  it."  His  friends  forsook 
him,  for  he  was  unsafe. 

Men  who  leave  their  Church.  —  When  foreign-born  men  of 
Catholic  antecedents  come  over  to  the  Protestant  faith,  it  is 
hard  telhng  what  they'll  do.  A  fellow  in  Chicago  began  to  read 
his  Bible  very  diligently  when  he  was  converted.  He  came 
across  the  passage  describing  the  gift  of  tongues ;  he  became 
enthusiastic,  pronounced  some  jargon,  fell  into  spasms  and 
twistings,  and  believed  he  got  the  "  powers."  He  came  to  the 
mission  church  with  his  discovery;  his  enthusiasm  was  con- 
tagious ;  soon  the  congregation  was  under  the  spell  of  the  "  gift 
of  tongues,"  and  held  protracted  meetings ;  the  residents  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  mission  complained  and  the  authorities 
interfered  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  community.  Among 
some  peoples,  to  leave  the  church  of  their  fathers  is  identical 
with  forsaking  one's  nation.  A  Greek,  in  Chicago,  left  the  Greek 
p 


2IO 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


church,  and  was  employed  by  one  of  the  denominations  to  do 
missionary  work  among  his  countrymen.  When  the  Greeks 
heard  that  he  was  a  turncoat  from  the  Greek  Orthodox  church, 
they  called  him  "  devil,"  "  traitor,"  "  renegade,"  "  betrayer," 
etc.,  and  his  influence  was  gone.  When  a  Greek  was  asked,  why 
this  was,  he  said,  "  Protestant  is  all  right  for  you ;  you  were  born 
Protestant,  but  he  was  born  Greek."  "  A  Greek  is  bom  to  his 
religion  just  as  he  is  to  his  nationality.  It  would  be  hard  to 
find  one  who  would  not  profess  to  be  a  Christian."^  A  young 
in  one  of  the  cities  of  the  West,  left  the  Greek  church 
and  was  thrown  out  of  his  boarding  house  by  his  co-religionists. 
These  people  at  once  communicated  with  his  elder  brother  in 
Russia,  who  immediately  came  to  America  to  bring  the  wanderer 
home.  He  went  to  the  house  in  which  the  young  man  stayed 
and  threatened  to  kill  him  if  he  did  not  return  to  the  faith  of  his 
fathers,  for,  said  he,  "  The  family  is  shamefully  disgraced." 
He  could  not  persuade  his  brother  to  return,  and  so  went  to  the 
police  and  said  that  "  the  young  man  was  detained  in  his 
boarding  house  contrary  to  his  wUl."  The  police  ofiicer  secured 
the  young  man  and  was  taking  him  to  the  courthouse,  when  the 
missionary  in  the  case  appeared  on  the  scene  and  gave  security 
for  the  appearance  of  the  young  convert  in  court.  When  the 
case  was  called,  the  judge  soon  grasped  the  situation  and  pro- 
ceeded to  tell  the  elder  brother  that  he  was  in  America  now  and 
not  in  Russia.  Sometimes  the  priests  throw  out  of  beneficial 
organizations  those  who  leave  the  faith.  A  foreign-bom  man, 
residing  in  Astoria,  N.Y.,  left  the  church  and  was  thrown  out 
of  the  society.  He  secured  damages  on  the  ground  that  a  so- 
ciety holding  a  charter  from  the  state  had  no  right  to  discriminate 
against  men  because  of  creed  or  religion.  Priests  don't  like  to 
lose  members  of  their  church  and  try  to  guard  against  this.  A 
group  of  Bulgarians,  coming  to  America,  were  called  into  church 
by  the  priest  the  night  before  they  started,  and  made  to  swear 
solemnly  that  they  would  never  enter  a  church  in  America. 
The  attitude  of  Rev.  Iwanawski,  in  Erie,  Pa.,  was  far  more  intelli- 
gent than  that.    He  wanted  a  man  trained  in  gymnastics  so 

1  "Greek  Immigrants  in  the  United  States, "  p.  46. 


CHURCHES 


211 


as  to  be  able  to  lead  the  boys  and  young  men  of  his  parish.  He 
sent  him  to  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  gymnasium 
for  training.  The  secretary,  in  making  the  arrangement,  said : 
"Father,  you  need  not  fear  we'll  turn  him  Protestant."  "Oh," 
said  the  priest,  "  you  leave  that  to  me ;  I'll  see  to  that." 

The  Priests  are  Capable.  —  The  shepherds  of  the  foreign- 
speaking  flocks  are  on  the  whole  good  men,  hard  workers,  ren- 
dering good  service.  They  are  not  all  good  men.  There  are 
some  bad  men  among  them,  as  among  spiritual  leaders  of  English- 
speaking  peoples.  The  priests  of  the  twentieth  century  are.not 
perfect  any  more  than  the  Apostles  of  the  first  were,  but  the  vast 
majority  are  spiritual  leaders  of  the  right  kind,  who  render 
service  to  their  countrymen  in  America  which  cannot  be  com- 
puted. A  prince  bishop  who  was  profane  excused  his  profanity 
by  saying  that  he  swore  as  a  prince  and  not  as  a  bishop,  but  one 
of  the  peasants  asked  him,  "  If  the  prince  is  damned,  what  will 
become  of  the  bishop  ?  "  A  priest  in  New  Jersey  adopted  a  two- 
fold standard  and  excused  himself  on  like  grounds.  He  was 
wholly  unworthy  of  the  priesthood,  and  his  mother  protested 
that  he  should  be  a  better  man,  but  he  said,  "  I'm  a  priest  only 
when  in  the  church,  on  the  road  I'm  like  other  men."  A  Protes- 
tant missionary  among  the  Portuguese  was  very  little  better. 
He  exhorted  his  people  to  pray  and  told  them,  "  If  you  want 
anything,  pray  and  you'll  get  it."  Pie  visited  a  home  that  was 
very  poor,  and  told  the  man  to  pray  for  bread  and  God  would 
answer  him.  The  man  fell  on  his  knees  and  prayed.  The  fellow 
went  out,  bought  a  loaf  of  bread,  put  it  at  his  door  and  told  the 
man  it  was  a  miraculous  answer  to  his  prayer.  Some  priests 
experience  difficulty  in  managing  certain  members  of  their 
congregation.  A  priest,  located  in  a  city  of  New  York,  was 
threatened  by  a  band  of  ruffians  from  among  his  people.  He 
appealed  to  the  court  and  the  judge  gave  him  the  right  to  carry 
a  revolver;  he  also  entered  suit  against  his  persecutors.  The 
Father  believed  in  fighting  with  other  than  spiritual  weapons. 
Another  priest  of  the  Greek  faith  was  shamefully  abused  by 
some  of  his  congregation  because  he  would  not  acquiesce  to 
their  demand.    When  foreign-speaking  ruffians  rise  against  the 


212 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


priest,  there  is  nothing  too  savage  for  them  to  do.  Of  course, 
some  priests  give  cause  for  violent  action.  A  priest,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Pittsburgh,  was  guilty  of  crime  for  which  men 
have  been  lynched,  and  if  he  were  among  Americans,  his  vil- 
lainy could  not  be  hid.  A  priest,  in  Detroit,  instilled  the  spirit 
of  lawlessness  into  his  congregation  that  neither  canonical  nor 
secular  law  had  much  effect  among  the  people  of  his  parish.  But 
these  are  e.xceptions.  The  army  of  clergymen  doing  work  among 
the  foreign-speaking  peoples  of  America  are  capable  and  worthy 
men. 

Fanatical  Converts.  —  Some  priests,  having  abandoned  their 
vows,  become  missionaries  of  the  Protestant  faith  for  foreign- 
speaking  peoples.  In  a  city  of  the  Middle  West,  one  of  these  con- 
verts kept  his  sacred  robes  of  office,  and,  when  called  upon  to 
baptize  the  child  of  a  foreigner,  would  carry  out  the  ceremony  in 
every  detail  as  his  custom  was  when  a  priest  of  the  Catholic 
church.  He  believed  in  making  himself  all  things  to  all  men  as  a 
Protestant  missionary.  Another  convert  from  the  priesthood 
was  rabid  in  his  attacks  upon  the  Roman  Catholic  church. 
While  in  a  town  in  Texas,  making  one  of  his  tirades,  he  was 
assaulted  by  Catholics  and  to  this  day  carries  on  his  body  the 
marks  of  that  attack.  Another  missionary  of  the  same  type 
goes  from  place  to  place  attacking  the  Catholic  church,  "  chal- 
lenging priests  to  public  debate  that  he  may  tell  them  things  they 
ought  to  know."  When  an  ex-priest  visited  Berwick,  Pa.,  a  false- 
hood was  circulated  that  he  was  thrown  out  of  one  of  the  saloons, 
too  drunk  to  walk  home ;  and  in  the  neighborhood  of  Pittsburgh, 
where  colporteurs  sell  Bibles,  it  is  stated  that  some  foreign- 
speaking  priests  boast  of  how  many  Protestant  Bibles  they  have 
found  among  their  people  which  they  have  confiscated.  All  this 
fanaticism  is  out  of  place  in  America  and  should  not  be  coun- 
tenanced by  either  Protestants  or  Catholics.  Religious  antag- 
onism, debates  as  to  the  merit  of  the  various  systems  of  Chris- 
tian faith,  lying  and  deceiving  for  the  sake  of  the  faith  are  all  out 
of  date  in  the  twentieth  century  and  out  of  sympathy  with  the 
American  spirit.  The  Republic  stands  for  religious  toleration, 
and  the  converts  from  either  faith  should,  in  this  country,  under- 


CHURCHES 


213 


stand  that  freedom  of  conscience  is  a  fundamental  principle 
which  all  true  Americans  will  honor. 

A  Sure  Cure.  —  An  ex-priest  in  New  York  State,  in  a  very 
efficient  manner  burnt  the  bridges  behind  him.  One  of  his 
reasons  for  leaving  the  Catholic  church  was  that  he  found  the 
canonical  law  in  America  very  different  from  what  it  was  in 
Europe.  His  friends  and  relatives  were  greatly  concerned  about 
his  action,  and  spared  no  effort  to  induce  him  to  return  to  the 
fold.  Their  solicitations  caused  him  some  anxiety  and  he 
resolved  to  marry.  He  had  a  friend  in  the  drug  business  to  whom 
he  told  his  trouble  and  begged  of  him  to  find  him  a  wife.  The 
druggist  agreed  to  do  so.  Two  weeks  later,  the  ex-priest  came 
to  the  store  and  asked  him,  "  Have  you  filled  out  my  prescrip- 
tion? "  "What  do  you  mean?"  asked  the  pharmacist.  "A 
wife,  of  course."  "Are  you  in  earnest?"  asked  the  friend. 
"Yes,"  said  the  bachelor.  "Very  well,  I'll  try,"  and  they 
parted.  Two  weeks  later,  the  ex-priest  was  called  to  the  store 
and  introduced  to  the  woman  who  is  to-day  his  wife. 

Protestant  Pastors.  —  Many  Protestant  pastors  among  the 
foreign-speaking  suffer  many  privations.  The  number  of  Prot- 
estants in  the  new  immigration  is  small,  hence  the  congregations 
are  weak,  and  widely  scattered.  The  missionaries  must  travel 
a  great  deal  if  they  minister  to  the  needs  of  men  of  their  faith. 
The  Letts  are  Protestants  and  small  groups  are  found  in  Balti- 
more, Philadelphia,  and  Boston,  and  only  one  pastor  to  supply 
their  spiritual  need  in  the  language  they  love.  In  Fairport  and 
other  port  towns  on  Lake  Erie,  there  are  Protestant  Magyars 
and  Slovaks,  but  no  minister  to  serve  their  spiritual  needs. 
Many  missionaries  sent  among  these  people  live  on  very  small 
rations  and  carry  on  their  work.  Some  of  these  men  in  first- 
class  cities  minister  to  the  foreign-speaking  on  a  salary  of  S50 
a  month.  How  they  can  live  on  such  a  salary  is  beyond  compre- 
hension. 

Harmony  Needed.  —  In  Hungary,  we  were  told  that  the 
Protestants  and  Roman  Catholics  live  side  by  side  in  peace,  and 
that  it  is  not  unusual  for  the  Roman  Catholic  priest  to  arrange 
with  a  Protestant  schoolmaster  to  give  the  children  of  his  parish 


214 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


the  necessary  instruction  to  prepare  them  for  their  first  com- 
munion. We  have  not  come  to  this  in  America,  and  still  the 
trend  is  in  that  direction.  An  Irishman,  in  Utica,  said,  "  I 
hated  the  Protestants  in  Ireland,  but  in  this  country  I  can't 
do  it  —  I  don't  know  why."  That  man  had  caught  the  Ameri- 
can spirit.  One  of  the  worst  evils  arising  from  the  antagonism 
and  strife  between  Protestants  and  Catholics  is  the  discord  which 
comes  into  homes  having  mixed  marriages.  When  the  parents 
quarrel  about  their  religion  it  is  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  children. 
Many  Catholic  wives  with  Protestant  husbands,  and  vice  versa, 
for  the  sake  of  peace  in  the  home,  keep  their  children  away  from 
all  religious  services.  If  parents,  having  these  difficulties, 
could  agree  upon  the  essentials  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  have 
their  children  taught  and  trained  in  them,  it  would  be  better  for 
the  home  and  for  the  offspring.  This  can  only  be  done  when 
priests  and  pastors,  who  worship  the  same  Master,  come  to  a 
common  understanding  as  to  what  are  the  essentials  in  his  teach- 
ings, and  put  these  in  a  form  that  could  be  used  in  such  homes. 

Agree  in  doing  Good.  —  Rousseau  uttered  a  profound  maxim 
when  he  said,  "  It  is  by  doing  good  that  we  become  good." 
Catholics  and  Protestants,  Greeks  and  Jews  are  concerned  in 
doing  good,  and  when  they  meet  in  practical  service,  they  agree 
and  work  harmoniously.  When  leaders  of  all  creeds  feel  the 
burdens  which  men  bear  to-day,  see  the  motives  and  impulses 
which  move  men  in  this  twentieth  century,  bring  to  the  clear 
the  sense  of  justice,  the  obligations  of  affection,  the  respect  due 
for  law  and  order,  then  they  lose  sight  of  their  differences  in 
united  action.  Before  the  great  spiritual  awakening  comes,  men 
of  all  creeds  must  come  together,  and  the  only  ground  upon  which 
this  can  be  done  is  practical  service  to  men.  But  when  intelli- 
gent men  feed  the  people  on  lies,  raise  the  trivial  and  accidental 
above  the  essential  and  fundamental,  and  emphasize  more  creed 
than  conduct,  then  faith  languishes  and  the  church  decays.  A 
keen  observer  says,  "  My  observation  in  England  and  America 
has  been  that  religion  is  to  non-Russian  peoples  merely  a  respect- 
able habit,  a  method  of  civil  decency."  How  far  is  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Slav  justified  ?    Is  there  more  genuine  religion  in  the 


CHURCHES 


215 


simple  Slav  than  in  the  polished  Anglo-Saxon?  The  religion  of 
Christ  came  to  peoples  of  varied  tongues  and  it  welded  the  most 
diverse  elements  into  one.  Has  it  not,  in  the  twentieth  century, 
the  vital  power  to  bring  about  the  same  among  the  people  of  the 
new  immigration?  The  simple  truths  of  the  Nazarene,  if  di- 
vested of  ecclesiastical  drapery,  have  in  them  the  breath  of  life 
when  applied  to  the  problems  of  this  country.  None  who  know 
the  people  of  these  United  States  will  deny  that  political  and 
religious  skepticism  is  daily  spreading  among  the  masses ;  the 
Church  of  God,  that  once  was  so  powerful  in  meeting  the  needs 
of  men,  seems  to  be  bankrupt  when  facing  the  problems  of  to- 
day. While  we  preach  human  unity,  the  visible  expression  of 
the  religion  in  which  that  truth  has  its  basis  —  the  church  — 
is  not  the  embodiment  of  true  democracy.  One  branch  is 
autocratic  and  does  not  believe  in  the  power  of  the  people  for 
self-government ;  the  other  is  out  of  relation  with  the  rank  and 
file  of  workingmen  and  has  no  real  message  for  them.  It  is  not 
true  that  the  men  of  this  nation  deny  God.  Religion  and  reli- 
gious truths  lie  dormant  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  —  there  they 
await  the  voice  of  the  prophet.  When  he  comes,  speaking  as 
a  man  with  authority,  the  people  will  hear  him  gladly  and  will  fol- 
low him.  When  religious  faith  and  hfe  again  come  to  their  own  in 
America,  the  foreigners  will  be  a  potent  factor  in  the  awakening 
for  righteousness  and  justice.  They  are  children  who  have  not 
been  spoiled  by  sophistry  and  tradition.  Give  them  the  real 
message  from  God,  and  they,  the  children  of  the  backward 
nations  of  Europe,  will  respond  and  give  to  the  spiritual  life  of 
America  strength  and  power  such  as  they  freely  give  to-day  to 
the  production  of  our  material  wealth. 


CHAPTER  XV 


BANKS  AND  SAVINGS 

The  leader  and  the  banker  are  generally  one  and  the  same 
man.  It  was  impossible  in  Chapter  XIII,  while  discussing 
foreign-speaking  leaders,  to  leave  out  of  the  discussion  these 
men's  connection  with  immigrant  banks.  The  leader  inspires 
confidence,  the  men  trust  him ;  to  him  they  go  for  advice,  for 
counsel,  for  work,  and  what  is  more  natural  than  to  give  him  their 
savings  for  safe-keeping?  There  lies  the  origin  of  the  immi- 
grant bank,  although  it  is  not  a  bank  in  the  strict  sense  of  the 
word.  Whenever  we  speak  of  a  bank,  we  mean  a  recognized 
institution  which  derives  its  right  to  do  business  from  the  state. 
It  is  hemmed  in  by  certain  legal  regulations,  its  accounts  are 
subject  to  state  supervision,  the  stockholders  are  responsible, 
the  concern  must  have  a  reserve,  it  can  only  loan  money  on 
certain  conditions,  its  bookkeeping  must  be  scientific,  it  must 
report  its  assets  and  UabUities  to  state  oflScials,  and  it  devotes 
all  its  energies  to  the  business  of  banking.  The  typical  immi- 
grant bank  has  none  or  very  few  of  these  qualities. 

Banks  in  Foreign  Colonies.  —  In  the  average  industrial  town 
where  a  few  thousand  foreigners  live,  three  or  four  immigrant 
banks  are  found.  These  institutions  are  usually  recognized 
by  the  large  billboard  placed  in  front  of  the  stores,  advertising 
steamship  tickets  for  sale.  Inside  one  of  these  is  a  small  room, 
generally  not  more  than  fifteen  feet  square  and  often  much 
smaller ;  the  fixtures  are  a  counter  and  a  we  or  glass  screen, 
forming  an  inclosure  where  the  banker  has  his  desk,  safe,  and 
books.  On  all  sides  are  advertisements  of  ships,  insurance, 
and  possibly  some  books  for  sale.  Into  this  room  the  foreigners 
come.   It  is  open  every  day  from  early  morning  till  late  at  night, 

216 


BANKS  AND  SAVINGS 


217 


but  the  bulk  of  the  business  is  done  in  the  evening  and  on  Sun- 
day. The  room  is  an  ordinary  living  room  set  apart  for  this 
purpose,  the  patrons  have  no  place  to  sit  down,  no  accommo- 
dations are  furnished  for  writing,  and  the  furniture  is  of  the 
simplest  kind.  Yet,  in  such  a  room  ten  or  twenty  men  will 
gather  to  chat,  smoke,  and  transact  business.  They  spit  on  the 
floor,  throw  the  waste  paper  anywhere,  and  act  as  if  they  were 
in  a  country  store  or  a  drinking  den.  Very  often,  the  banker 
has  a  store  and  a  saloon  adjoining  the  bank,  and  the  men  pass 
from  one  to  the  other,  having  business  in  each  department.  A 
banker  in  Lorain,  Ohio,  occupies  a  brick  building  on  a  corner 
lot ;  on  the  corner  fronting  the  main  street  is  the  saloon,  next  to 
it  on  the  main  thoroughfare  is  the  store,  and  in  the  rear  the  bank 
occupies  a  large  room.  On  a  Saturday  night  after  pay,  there 
is  not  a  busier  place  in  town  than  this;  men  and  women  are 
in  the  store,  in  the  saloon,  and  in  the  bank,  and  passing  from 
the  one  to  the  other  —  that  Magyar  does  a  thriving  busi- 
ness in  a  place  which  is  unpretentious,  simply  furnished,  and 
often  dirty. 

Banks  and  Company  Stores.  —  In  every  town  where  for- 
eigners live,  and  the  privilege  of  buying  and  building  homes  is 
given  them,  the  immigrant  banker  flourishes;  but  in  towns 
where  the  company  owns  everything  and  the  men  nothing,  no 
banking  institution  is  found.  I  do  not  know  of  a  single  com- 
pany store  to  which  foreigners  have  brought  their  money  for 
safe-keeping.  Possibly  companies  running  stores  never  have 
encouraged  this,  or  perchance  the  foreigners  are  reluctant  to 
trust  them.  Yet  this  line  of  business  is  not  too  trivial  for  men 
at  the  head  of  small  industrial  towns,  and  the  foreigners  would 
be  saved  considerable  trouble  if  safe  and  convenient  oppor- 
tunities to  save  were  given  them.  No  group  of  immigrants  are 
more  concerned  how  to  keep  their  savings  safely  than  those 
living  in  isolated  camps. 

Foreigners  bent  on  Saving.  —  The  foreigners  as  a  whole  are 
bent  on  saving.  A  foreman  of  a  gang  of  Italians,  living  in  a  car, 
said  that  one  of  the  men  lived  on  forty-five  cents  a  week.  -That 
is  well-nigh  incredible,  and  yet  one  of  our  college  professors  has 


2l8 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


said  that  it  is  possible  for  men  to  live  on  ten  cents  a  day ;  ^  some 
foreigners  keep  pretty  close  to  that  standard.  Many  Italians 
subsist  on  twenty-five  cents  a  day,  while  thousands  of  Greek 
immigrants  in  America  live  on  less  and  possibly  come  as  near  as 
any  group  of  foreigners  to  the  minimum  spent  on  bed  and  board. 
Single  men,  leading  a  communal  life,  will  vigorously  protest  if 
their  monthly  board  bill  exceeds  $5  or  $6.  They  buy  cheap  cuts 
of  meats,  make  soups  and  spend  very  little  on  crockery.  They 
buy  their  beer  by  the  wholesale,  or  the  boarding  boss  does  so 
and  the  boarders  buy  it  from  him  at  lower  rates  than  in  saloons. 
The  foreigner's  diet  has  variety,  but  the  range  of  articles  drawn 
upon  is  not  large.  Their  food  is  chiefly  made  up  of  vegetables 
such  as  onions  and  cabbage,  beets  and  cucumbers,  pickles  and 
garlic,  leeks  and  tomatoes,  while  they  spend  very  little  on 
fruits,  such  as  peaches,  pears,  oranges,  and  grapefruit,  which  are 
found  on  the  table  of  Americans.  They  spend  nothing  on 
dainties  and  sweetmeats,  on  ices  and  confectionery,  on  nuts  and 
grapes.  They  have  wholesome  bread,  baked  either  by  the 
boarding  mistress  or  a  baker  who  studies  their  taste.  The 
foreigner  will  spend  little  on  luxuries.  Beer  he  regards  as  an 
article  of  diet,  one  of  the  essentials,  and  includes  it  in  the  Ust  of 
necessities.  In  many  instances  the  eagerness  to  save  cuts  too 
deeply  into  his  subsistence,  so  that  he  does  not  eat  enough  to 
keep  the  body  in  good  working  condition.  This  is  more  fre- 
quently the  case  with  Italians  and  Greeks,  Jews  and  S>Tians, 
than  with  Slavs  and  Lithuanians,  Magyars  and  Finns. 

Simple  Living.  —  All  these  people  spend  more  on  food  in 

'  Major  J.  W.  Cheney,  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Connecticut  State  Prison, 
writing  to  the  Hartford  Daily  Courant,  says :  "The  average  cost  of  food  to  the  pris- 
oners for  the  year  ending  September  30,  1911,  was  9.45  cents  per  day,  or  less  than 
9j  cents  per  capita ;  this  also  includes  3j  ounces  of  tobacco  a  week  for  those  who 
desire  it,  but  does  not  include  the  preparation  of  the  food  which  is  done  by  the 
convicts."  Warden  B.  F.  Bridges,  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Prison,  says:  "The 
actual  cost  per  capita  in  1911  was  S42.63  per  year,  this  amounts  to  11.67  cents  per 
day  per  prisoner."  Warden  Bridges  further  adds:  "Our  guests  thrive  on  what 
we  give  them,  they  show  it  is  beneficial  by  the  continued  improvement  in  their 
condition.  Many  who  come  here  are  dissipated  or  in  poor  health  but  they  improve 
rapidly."  These  statements  prove  that  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  maintain  physi- 
cal vigor  on  a  food  supply  which  costs  10  cents  a  day. 


BANKS  AND  SAVINGS 


219 


America  than  they  did  in  the  fatherland,  and  the  immigrants  found 
in  quarry  and  mine,  in  steel  plants  and  foundries,  are  not  in  the 
country  long  before  they  learn  to  eat  more  and  richer  food  than 
was  their  wont  in  the  old  world.  They  generally  have  plenty 
of  appetizing  bread,  soups,  rich  in  meat,  rye,  rice,  and  vege- 
tables; they  drink  black  coffee  and  much  beer;  on  fast  days, 
eggs,  sardines,  and  cheese  take  the  place  of  meat;  cabbage, 
beets,  and  pickles  enter  into  the  diet  —  all  this  is  plain  living, 
and  eaten  generally  with  steel  knives  and  forks.  If  napkins 
are  used,  and  the  table  is  covered  with  white  linen  instead  of 
oilcloth,  it  is  a  sign  that  their  standard  of  living  is  changing. 
The  foreign  brother  keeps  down  his  living  expenses  by  avoiding 
delicacies  and  doing  without  silverware  and  fine  Unen.  Most  of 
them  eat  enough  substantial  food,  for  the  physical  strength 
and  endurance  demanded  in  arduous  employments  could  not 
otherwise  be  maintained ;  they  lose  nothing  and  gain  much  by 
abstaining  from  ices  and  condiments,  which  are  marvels  of  the 
culinary  art  and  the  pest  of  ordinary  digestions.  Taken  as  a 
whole,  the  Hving  of  the  Slav  and  Italian  is  more  rational  than 
that  of  the  average  EngHsh-speaking  workingman,  who  is  fed 
on  concoctions  of  grease  and  meal,  sugar  and  fruit,  which  tax 
the  digestive  organs  of  every  member  in  his  family. 

Necessity  for  Bankers.  —  Single  men  save  most  money. 
They  are  bachelors  or  married  men  having  their  wives  in  the 
old  country.  The  average  wage  of  unskilled  workers,  as  before 
stated,  is  about  $1.50  a  day,  and  the  average  annual  income  not 
more  than  $450.  A  man  with  a  family  living  on  this  wage  can- 
not save  much.  The  single  man,  however,  can  save.  His 
living  expenses  will  not  exceed  $10  or  $12  a  month,  his  beer  bill 
will  not  be  more  than  $4  or  $5  ;  hence  out  of  a  wage  of  $35  a 
month  he  is  able  to  save  from  $15  to  $20.  These  single  men, 
living  in  mining  patches  several  miles  removed  from  urban 
communities,  have  great  difficulty  in  finding  a  safe  place  to  keep 
their  savings,  and  in  trying  to  do  so  resort  to  cunning  devices. 
Some  hide  the  money  in  the  chamber  in  the  mines,  others  carry 
it  around  in  their  boots  or  sew  it  in  their  garments ;  many  of 
the  Balkan  peoples  carry  it  in  their  belts ;  others  secrete  it  in 


220 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


some  part  of  the  boarding  house  or  in  the  bottom  of  the  trunk  ; 
but  wherever  they  put  their  savings  they  are  always  hable  to 
lose  them  by  fire  or  theft.  Many  men  in  mining  patches  have 
lost  their  trunks  and  after  many  days  found  them  in  the  bush, 
torn  open  and  all  the  money  gone.  Some  of  the  men  killed  in 
the  mines  when  examined  are  foimd  with  money  sewn  in  their 
garments.  A  physician,  treating  a  foreigner  whose  foot  was 
crushed  in  a  steel  plant,  had  to  rip  open  the  boot ;  the  immi- 
grant, though  in  great  pain,  had  forethought  enough  to  remove 
a  wad  of  greenbacks  which  was  cunningly  fastened  in  the  inside 
of  the  upper.  Under  these  conditions  it  is  perfectly  natural  for 
the  alien  to  trust  his  spare  cash  to  a  friend  for  safe-keeping. 
And  especially  is  this  the  case  when  the  leader  has  a  safe  which 
can  resist  the  attack  of  fire  and  loot.  Scores  of  these  men 
would,  if  it  were  necessary,  pay  something  to  a  leader  who 
would  keep  their  savings  and  reUeve  them  of  anxiety.  The 
origin  of  the  immigrant  bank  lies  in  the  extremity  of  the  alien 
looking  for  a  safe  place  to  keep  his  savings. 

Immigrant  Bankers  meet  a  Need.  —  Hence  the  immi- 
grant banker  is  a  development ;  the  need  was  there  and  shrewd 
men  saw  it  and  rose  to  the  occasion.  Conditions  were  very 
different  among  immigrants  from  northwestern  Europe — the 
old  immigration.  They  knew  what  banks  were,  and  could 
intelligently  transact  business  in  them.  They  came  from  towns 
and  industrial  centers  and  confided  in  the  English-  or  German- 
speaking  banker,  who  was  a  representative  of  the  type  of  men 
they  knew  in  banking  business  in  the  fatherland.  The  buildings  in 
which  these  bankers  transacted  business  were  of  the  same  kind 
as  those  the  immigrants  had  seen  in  the  old  world ;  indeed,  the 
necessity  for  banking  facilities  forty  and  fifty  years  ago  was 
not  as  urgent  as  to-day,  for  there  were  not  as  many  single  men 
among  the  old  as  there  are  among  the  new  immigrants ;  then 
the  monetary  circulation  was  not  what  it  is  at  present ;  and 
most  of  the  immigrants  of  fifty  years  ago  built  homes  in  the  new 
world.  It  is  very  different  with  the  new  immigrants.  They 
come  from  agricultural  communities  where  there  is  little  or  no 
money  to  save ;  they  know  no  banks  or  bankers,  they  know 


BANKS  AND  SAVINGS 


221 


nothing  of  modern  finance,  and  look  with  suspicion  on  houses 
and  men  far  removed  by  language  and  custom  from  what 
they  have  known  in  life.  They  have  been  inured  to  close 
living  and  to  leadership :  the  one  enables  them  to  save  money ; 
the  other  forces  them  to  look  to  a  leader  for  counsel  and  guidance. 
A  man  capable  of  leadership  is  found  in  every  group.  He  is 
the  one  who  caters  to  the  wants  of  his  fellows ;  who  rises  to  the 
dignity  of  a  boarding  boss  or  saloon-keeper,  grocer,  or  butcher  ; 
the  one  whom  the  boarders  trust  and  to  whom  they  give  their 
money.  The  vast  majority  of  immigrant  bankers  once  worked 
side  by  side  with  the  men  whom  they  now  serve ;  they  began 
business  by  supplying  the  needs  of  their  comrades,  and  then 
gradually  advanced  to  be  the  custodians  of  large  sums  of  money, 
A  prominent  Slav,  who  is  to-day  reputed  to  be  worth  half  a 
miUion,  said  that  the  happiest  days  of  his  life  were  those  spent 
in  a  mining  patch,  when  with  a  score  of  other  young  fellows  in 
a  boarding  house,  they  whiled  away  the  time  in  drinking  and 
card  playing.  He  started  in  business  by  running  a  saloon, 
then  began  banking  and  sold  steamship  tickets ;  later  he  took 
up  real  estate  and  insurance,  and  to-day  has  an  extensive  and 
profitable  business.  Another  man  in  Freeport,  Ohio,  had  a  store, 
a  bank,  and  sold  steamship  tickets.  He  had,  in  Cleveland,  in 
a  newspaper  ofl&ce,  served  for  seven  years,  had  traveled  in  the 
coast  states,  had  tried  various  occupations,  and  was  finally 
settled  in  this  town,  where  he  had  lived  for  two  years.  He  knew 
the  life  of  the  foreigner,  was  able  to  talk  EngUsh  fluently,  and 
was  an  intelligent  and  trustworthy  leader  of  his  people.  In  the 
office  of  P.  V.  Rovnianek,  in  Pittsburgh,  where  a  large  banking 
business  was  done,  many  professional  men  were  found.  The 
same  is  true  of  many  houses  doing  banking  business  for  foreigners 
in  New  York  City ;  but  in  industrial  towns  and  cities  in  the 
immigration  zone,  the  vast  majority  of  the  men  who  run  immi- 
grant banks  have  entered  the  business  from  the  ranks  of 
working  people. 

Saloon-Keepers  as  Bankers.  —  Hence  scientific  banking  is  as 
far  removed  from  this  class  of  people  as  scientific  cooking  is 
from  the  barbarian.   They  came  into  possession  of  funds  and 


222 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


they  had  to  depend  upon  mother  wit  to  turn  them  into  profit. 
There  are  Jews  who  began  business  carrying  a  pack  from  house 
to  house ;  then  they  opened  a  store,  and  gradually  gaining  the 
confidence  of  foreigners,  they  secured  their  money  and  carried 
on  a  large  banking  business;  but  these  men  knew  the  ways  of 
business  and  had  genius  for  it.  As  soon  as  they  began  to  prosper, 
they  formed  connections  with  their  co-religionists  in  the  near-by 
city  and  entered  lines  of  business  investments  which  were  safe 
and  profitable.  But  the  average  saloon-keeper,  having  the 
savings  of  fifty  men  thrust  upon  him,  did  not  know  the  ways  of 
business,  had  no  genius  for  finance,  had  no  connections  with 
men  who  could  advise  and  help  him ;  he  is  as  a  child  suddenly 
forced  into  relationship  with  the  business  world  without  training 
or  experience,  and  the  wonder  is,  not  that  some  of  the  men's 
money  is  lost,  but  that  so  much  of  it  is  safely  kept  and  re- 
turned to  the  owner  on  demand.  A  saloon-keeper  in  Penn- 
sylvania had  boarders  and  customers  —  single  men  —  who 
forced  him  to  keep  their  spare  cash.  As  soon  as  he  purchased 
a  safe,  he  had  no  peace  until  he  consented  to  accept  the  spare 
cash  of  the  boarders.  He  took  the  money  and  never  thought  of 
giving  one  of  them  a  receipt.  I  asked  him,  "  How  was  that?  " 
"  Well,"  said  the  banker,  "  we  don't  give  receipts  in  our  country. 
Men  who  make  the  sign  of  the  cross  trust  each  other,  and  the 
men  who  gave  me  the  money  never  thought  of  asking  for  a 
receipt ;  it  would  be  the  next  thing  to  an  insult."  "  You  keep  an 
account  now,  how  did  you  begin  to  do  it?  "  I  asked.  "  When 
the  number  of  men  increased,  I  found  I  couldn't  keep  the  money 
separate  from  my  own,  and  I  had  to  take  the  word  of  the  man 
as  to  the  amoimt.  Then  I  began  to  keep  the  names  and  the 
sums  received,  and  after  a  while,  simple  pass  books  were  given  the 
men  so  that  they  might  know  what  was  to  their  credit."  Some 
of  the  foreign-speaking  depositors  are  not  honest.  Simple  farm 
folks  generally  are,  but  there  are  some  of  the  other  kind.  A 
Syrian  in  Auburn,  Me.,  deposited  in  a  bank  $560  and  received  a 
book  with  credit  to  that  amount.  When  the  banker  counted 
the  money,  he  found  only  $540.  He  called  the  depositor  and 
told  him  that  the  amoimt  was  $20  short,  but  the  fellow  swore 


BANKS  AND  SAVINGS 


223 


that  it  was  $560.  It  was  not  long,  however,  before  the  bank 
secured  evidence  of  the  fraud.  The  man  boasted  to  a  friend 
that  he  had  beat  the  bank  out  of  $20. 

No  Interest  Paid.  —  Most  of  these  bankers  never  think  of 
paying  interest  upon  the  money  they  receive.  It  is  an  accom- 
modation to  their  friends.  The  receiver  is  not  in  the  banking 
business  and  at  first  kept  the  money  in  the  safe  at  the  call  of 
the  friend.  It  was  only  as  it  accumulated  that  it  got  into  his 
personal  account :  then  he  deposited  it  and  it  became  a  source 
of  income,  and  as  his  business  grew,  nothing  was  more  natural 
than  for  him  to  use  this  money  for  its  enlargement.  One  of 
these  men  in  the  grocery  business  had  the  confidence  of  his 
countrymen  and  held  some  $5000  of  their  money.  He  lived 
in  rented  quarters,  but  saw  an  opportunity  to  buy  a  place  that 
would  suit  him.  He  bought  it  and  used  the  funds  intrusted  to 
him  in  the  deal.  His  business  prospered  and  to-day  he  owns 
eight  properties  and  a  handsome  home.  The  money  of  the 
depositors  made  it  possible  for  him  to  increase  his  holdings  ;  he 
never  paid  them  interest,  but  he  never  also  failed  to  meet  the 
demand  of  any  of  the  men  or  lost  a  cent  of  their  money.  The 
following  is  an  instance  —  and  it  was  only  one  of  many  —  of 
how  he  was  called  upon  at  a  moment's  notice  to  pay  some  of 
his  customers.  Three  men  were  involved  in  a  fight  which 
resulted  in  a  serious  crime.  They  had  to  take  to  the  woods  at 
once  to  escape  arrest.  Each  was  a  depositor  in  the  bank  and 
hurriedly  they  awoke  the  banker  at  midnight,  demanding  their 
money.  It  was  Sunday  night  and  he  had  in  his  safe  the  receipts 
of  Saturday  night's  and  Sunday's  trade.  The  banker  gave  the 
men  their  money  and  away  they  fled.  There  are  scamps  found 
among  all  peoples,  and  some  of  the  foreign-speaking  kind  have 
played  on  the  ignorance  and  credulity  of  the  immigrants  to  get 
their  money  and  do  away  with  it.  But  these  men  are  wholly 
different  from  the  saloon-keeper  or  grocer,  who  has  grown  into 
the  business  of  banking  after  years  of  honest  and  quiet  trans- 
actions among  his  friends.  The  foreign  speculator  is  a  novice ; 
he  offers  inducements  in  the  form  of  high  interest  and  favorable 
exchange  rates,  employs  runners  to  get  business,  and  after  a  stay 


224 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


of  some  months,  disappears.  Take,  however,  the  thousands  of 
men  doing  banking  business  for  foreigners  in  towns  and  villages, 
camps  and  cities,  and  they  are  honest  and  trustworthy  men, 
who  render  an  invaluable  service  to  their  countrymen. 

Bankers  are  Useful  Men.  —  There  is  no  place  more  popular 
in  the  foreign  community  than  the  banker's.  There,  friends 
meet  for  a  smoke  and  chat ;  there  many  of  them  receive  their' 
letters  and  write  to  their  friends  and  relatives  at  home ;  from 
there  they  send  remittances  to  the  homeland  ;  and  if  they  want 
legal  advice,  the  banker  is  their  confidant.  If  a  foreigner  buys 
a  piece  of  land  and  puts  a  house  upon  it,  the  banker  is  the  man 
who  is  consulted,  and  if  he  wants  to  borrow,  he  will  find  him  the 
money.  The  banker  is  the  leader  of  the  society  to  which  immi- 
grants belong  and  if  he  has  a  hall,  there  the  society  meets  for 
the  transaction  of  business.  If  the  foreigners  are  in  trouble,  to 
him  they  come  and  he  is  the  man  who  bails  them  ;  if  they  want 
an  attorney,  his  lawyer  is  the  man  who  is  called.  If  legal 
compHcations  arise  and  it  is  necessary  to  secure  evidence  from 
the  homeland,  he  is  the  one  who  can  best  help  them,  for  he 
knows  the  consul  in  the  nearest  city  and  is  in  communication 
with  him.  He  subscribes  to  the  leading  papers  published  in  the 
language  of  his  people  in  America  and  gets  the  news  from  the 
old  country  ;  hence  he  is  the  source  of  information  to  his  friends 
and  can  tell  of  conditions  in  the  fatherland.  His  circle  of 
acquaintances  in  America  is  large  and  if  the  foreigner  resolves 
to  move,  he  attaches  a  button  to  his  coat  so  that  a  trusty  friend 
at  the  point  of  destination  can  identify  him  and  lead  him  to 
his  friends.  If  the  alien  goes  to  the  old  country,  the  leader 
can  advise  him  as  to  Une  and  time,  sell  him  a  ticket  both  by  rail 
and  by  boat,  advise  him  as  to  the  best  way  to  make  the  journey, 
and  tell  him  about  friendly  and  reliable  houses  at  which  to 
stay.  The  banker  is  also  a  leading  man  in  the  church,  and  the 
priest  is  his  friend  ;  when  death  comes  to  the  home,  he  is  a  friend 
in  these  trying  circumstances,  and  when  a  subscription  is  started 
for  the  widow  and  orphans,  he  heads  the  hst.  No  value  can  be 
placed  upon  the  usefulness  of  the  banker  to  his  fellow-men,  and 
these  varied  services  are,  for  the  most  part,  freely  rendered  and 


BANKS  AND  SAVINGS 


225 


should  be  put  in  the  balance  when  we  estimate  the  returns  to 
the  depositors  in  dollars  and  cents.  Are  there  any  native-born 
who  could  and  would  render  these  services  to  the  immigrants? 

Americans  after  the  Trade.  —  American  banks  have,  in  recent 
years,  recognized  the  importance  of  this  financial  business  of 
foreigners  and  have  tried  to  attract  some  of  the  trade.  They 
have  installed  foreign  exchange  departments,  put  foreign- 
speaking  men  in  charge,  and  advertised  in  the  language  of  the 
immigrant  that  they  are  ready  to  do  business.  In  every  town 
and  city  where  an  honest  effort  of  this  kind  is  made,  the  bank 
has  caught  some  of  the  trade,  but  it  is  almost  invariably  that  of 
foreign-speaking  men  who  have  been  in  the  country  many  years 
and  who  have  learnt  to  confide  in  Americans.  Whatever 
foreign  exchange  business  American  bankers  in  small  cities  do, 
it  is  through  Americanized  foreign-speaking  men,  who  use  the 
local  bank  for  foreign  exchange  business  rather  than  a  bank  in 
a  large  city  or  one  in  a  European  city.  The  American  bank 
will  not  catch  the  trade  of  the  immigrant  single  man,  the  new- 
comer, the  one  who  looks  with  suspicion  upon  everything 
American,  and  who  would  as  soon  think  of  entering,  in  his 
coarse  garments  and  with  his  uncomely  gait,  into  the  palace  of  a 
millionaire,  as  step  into  the  marble-faced,  mahogany-upholstered, 
and  brass-trimmed  American  bank.  This  man  is  a  money  saver, 
and  he  will  put  it  in  the  hands  of  the  saloon-keeper  or  grocer 
rather  than  in  those  of  the  authorized  banker.  He  prefers 
to  go  with  his  $10  or  $20  savings  to  the  small  room  of  a  friend 
which  is  dirty  and  untidy,  rather  than  to  the  elegant  quarters  of 
American  banks.  He  is  known  in  the  foreign  bank,  he  has  a 
personal  friend  in  the  banker,  he  can  come  in  his  working  gar- 
ments and  no  one  stares  at  him,  he  can  come  at  any  hour  and 
any  day,  and  he  is  welcome.  Then  it  is  understood  that  he  puts 
his  money  there  only  for  a  time ;  when  it  accumulates  to  $80 
or  $100,  he  withdraws  it  and  sends  it  to  the  old  country,  to  pay 
off  the  mortgage  on  a  little  property,  or  perchance  to  buy  a  piece 
of  land,  or  to  help  the  family  and  the  old  folks  at  home,  or  for 
safe-keeping  in  the  government  bank  or  the  postal  savings  in- 
stitution.   The  Immigration  Commission  foimd  that  the  average 


226 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


amount  of  money  per  depositor  left  in  the  hands  of  the  immi- 
grant banker  was  $64.45/  ^.nd  the  total  deposits  in  the  hands  of 
any  one  man  at  the  same  time  seldom  reached  the  sum  of 
$10,000,  while  the  average  was  less  than  half  that  amount. 

Banking  a  Side  Show.  —  The  average  immigrant  banker 
cannot  get  a  living  out  of  the  financial  business  he  carries 
on  with  the  small  depositors.  His  bank  is  only  a  side 
show;  it  leads  to  other  lines  of  business,  which  are  far 
more  important  as  factors  in  his  subsistence.  As  long  as 
he  has  an  account  against  a  man,  the  bill  contracted  in 
his  store  and  saloon  is  covered ;  the  man  may  want  a  steam- 
ship ticket  and  buys  it  from  him ;  he  may  want  to  rent,  buy,  or 
sell  a  piece  of  property,  or  secure  a  mortgage,  and  the  banker 
is  there  to  do  the  business.  In  this  way,  the  three  thousand'^ 
plus  immigrant  bankers  do  a  flourishing  business  with  the 
money  intrusted  to  their  care,  while  the  average  American 
banker,  living  solely  by  financial  transactions,  cannot  compete 
with  them.  The  latter,  however,  has  an  advantage  in  foreign 
exchange,  for  the  former  sending  money  abroad  must  use  an 
authorized  banking  institution  having  international  transac- 
tions. Some  European  banks,  such  as  the  Bank  of  Naples, 
the  Union  Bank  of  Prague,  etc.,  give  their  papers  to  reliable 
immigrant  bankers,  who  sell  them  to  the  immigrants  sending 
money  to  the  homeland.  The  sum  is  then  forwarded  to  the 
European  bank,  which  in  turn  pays  the  money  to  the  party  to 
whom  it  is  sent.  Many  American  banks  also  give  their  paper 
to  immigrant  bankers  in  small  cities  to  sell,  but  the  banks  hold 
themselves  responsible  only  when  the  amount  of  the  paper  sold 
is  covered  by  the  immigrant  banker.  Hence  a  foreigner  may 
hold  the  paper  of  a  first-class  bank  in  New  York  City  for  $100, 
but  if  the  man  from  whom  he  bought  the  paper  has  not  covered 
the  same,  it  will  never  reach  the  old  folks  at  home  in  Russia  or 
Italy  or  Poland. 

Frauds  Practiced.  —  It  is  in  connection  with  this  foreign 

1  See  Immigration  Commission's  Abstract  o£  Report  on,  "Immigration  Banks," 
p.  46." 

^Ibid;  p.  17. 


BANKS  AND  SAVINGS 


227 


business  that  immigrants  are  most  often  defrauded.  The  media 
generally  used  to  send  money  to  Europe  are  the  banks,  steam- 
ship companies,  express  companies,  and  the  foreign  postal 
service.  Sometimes  the  money  fails  to  reach  the  relatives 
through  the  most  reliable  medium.  A  Turk  in  Dayton,  Ohio, 
sent  $100  through  the  postal  service  to  his  relatives  in  Turkey. 
He  waited  long,  hoping  against  hope  that  the  money  would 
reach  his  folks,  but  letter  after  letter  came,  stating  that  no 
money  was  received.  A  year  passed  and  he  gave  up  all  hope. 
He  believed  that  the  government  in  America  was  much  the 
same  as  that  of  Turkey  —  manned  by  dishonest  officials  —  and 
that  his  money  was  lost.  The  man  became  a  member  of  an 
English  class,  and  after  a  while  he  related  his  misfortune  to  the 
teacher,  who  asked,  "  Did  you  inquire  at  the  post  office  about 
it?"  "No,"  was  the  Turk's  reply,  "it  won't  do  any  good." 
"  We'll  see,"  said  the  teacher,  and  at  once  he  set  to  work  to  find 
out  the  truth.  He  soon  discovered  that  the  money  was  safe, 
and  having  secured  its  return,  the  foreigner,  rejoicing  in  his 
good  fortune,  said,  "  All  Americans  will  go  to  heaven,  for  they 
are  honest  people."  Many  immigrants  have  suffered  loss  by 
intrusting  their  money  to  private  bankers  who  do  not  send  what 
they  receive  to  the  relatives  of  the  foreigner  in  Europe.  The 
Cleveland  Chamber  of  Commerce  ^  tells  of  an  immigrant  banker, 
who,  around  the  Christmas  season,  had  received  $8000  for  trans- 
mission abroad,  not  a  cent  of  which  was  sent.  The  Immigration 
Commission  tells  of  a  Magyar  who  had  $12,000  in  funds  intrusted 
to  him  to  send  to  the  homeland,  and  he  absconded  with  that 
sum.  A  man  bent  upon  deception  can  fool  the  credulous 
foreigner.  It  takes  weeks  to  hear  from  the  hills  of  Galicia  or 
the  plains  of  southern  Russia,  and  when  the  complainant  asks 
the  banker  how  it  is  the  money  was  not  sent,  he  can  make  the 
excuse  that  an  error  was  made  in  the  list  sent  to  European 
bankers,  and  that  it  will  be  immediately  rectified.  Designing 
men  can  thus  allay  the  suspicion  of  these  ignorant  men  for  two 
or  three  months,  and  then  disappear  or  become  insolvent. 

J  See  Immigration  Commission's  Abstract  of  Report  on,  "  Immigration  Banks," 
p.  lis. 


228 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


The  same  deception  has  been  practiced  upon  many  men  who 
buy  steamship  tickets  for  friends  in  the  homeland,  intending 
to  come  to  America.  The  ticket  never  reaches  the  party,  or  a 
bogus  paper  is  sent,  and  the  good  money  paid  the  fraudulent 
agent  is  lost. 

The  Amount  of  Fraud.  —  Fraud,  misrepresentation,  em- 
bezzlement, are  found  in  these  financial  transactions  among 
foreigners  as  among  English-speaking  men.^  The  differ- 
ence is  that  a  designing  man  can  work  a  group  of  child- 
like foreigners  much  easier  than  a  native-born  can  a  group 
of  English-speaking.  A  grocer  or  a  saloon-keeper  may  have 
the  whole  of  the  wages  of  his  confiding  boarders,  he  may  be 
implicitly  trusted  to  take  from  the  account  what  is  due  him, 
and  then  deposit  the  remainder  to  the  credit  of  the  wage  earner. 
If  hard  pressed  in  a  business  transaction  or  in  meeting  his  bills, 
he  is  likely  to  misappropriate  the  funds  and  defraud  the  trust- 
ing boarders.  This  may  be  done  without  intention  to  embezzle 
the  funds.  In  the  panic  of  1907,  scores  of  immigrant  bankers 
had  the  funds  intrusted  to  them  tied  up  in  real  estate,  and  when 
the  run  came,  they  were  unable  to  turn  their  holdings  into  cash 
and  were  forced  to  insolvency.  There  are  some  unscrupulous 
men  in  the  business.  A  banker  may  sell  steamship  tickets  to 
men  four  or  six  weeks  before  they  start.  When  the  party,  the 
day  before  he  sails,  comes  for  the  ticket  upon  which  he  had  paid 
a  certain  sum,  he  is  told  that  the  fare  has  advanced  $2  or  $3. 
The  man  is  ready  to  go  and  rather  than  withdraw  he  pays  the 
excess  charge.  But,  taking  the  immigrant  bankers  as  a  whole, 
they  are  a  body  of  conscientious  men,  and  we  are  inclined  to 
believe  that  if  better  trained  and  cultured  men  were  given  the 
opportunity  to  increase  in  riches  by  trading  upon  innocency 
and  ignorance,  which  is  so  easy  for  these  men  to  do,  their  record 

'  "  Although  banking  functions  are  more  or  less  forced  upon  men  of  this  character, 
and  although  they  may  be  exercised  in  a  thoroughly  honorable  way  by  many, 
the  fact  remains  that  many  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  belonging  to  immigrant 
laborers  are  handled  by  ignorant,  incompetent  and  untrustworthy  men."  See 
Immigration  Commission's  'Abstract  of  Report  on,  "Immigration  Banks,"  p.  22. 

*  See  also  Report  ot  the  Commission  of  Immigration  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
pp.  25  f. 


BANKS  AND  SAVINGS 


229 


would  possibly  not  be  as  clean.  Sixty-four  per  cent  of  the 
immigrants  coming  to  America  in  recent  years  have  their 
passage  prepaid ;  that  is,  in  years  when  the  immigrant  stream 
touches  the  million  mark,  640,000  persons  come  in  on  tickets 
paid  for  by  relatives  in  this  country,  and  in  connection  with 
the  tickets  sent  these  hundreds  of  thousands  there  was  no  fraud. 
We  have  no  way  of  finding  out  how  many  persons  are  defrauded 
by  men  selling  bogus  steamship  tickets,  but,  taking  into  con- 
sideration the  volume  of  business,  it  is  very  small.  The  New 
York  Commission  of  Immigration  investigated  the  failures  of 
immigrant  banks  in  that  state  from  September  i,  1907,  to  Sep- 
tember I,  1908,  the  year  of  the  panic,  and  found  the  total 
liabilities  of  twenty-five  firms  amounted  to  about  $1,500,000. 
We  are  told  that  at  the  time  more  than  a  thousand  immigrant 
bankers  were  doing  business  in  the  state,  and  975  of  them  were 
able  to  weather  the  financial  storm  that  swept  over  the  country 
during  that  year.  At  the  time  of  the  investigation,  these  banks 
must  have  had  in  hand  over  $7,000,000  in  deposits,  and  that 
year  no  less  than  $275,000,000  were  sent  to  Europe  through  the 
hands  of  immigrant  bankers.  It  is  not  known  how  much  of  this 
passed  through  the  hands  of  the  men  doing  business  in  the 
Empire  State,  but  it  is  safe  to  put  it  at  a  third.  Thus  at  the  time 
of  the  investigation,  these  thousand  immigrant  bankers  in  New 
York  State  did  a  business  of  $100,000,000  and  2.5  per  cent  of 
them  failed  and  their  liabilities  were  1.5  per  cent  of  the  sums 
handled.  Compare  this  with  the  record  of  American  bankers 
in  this  year  of  panic  and  it  does  not  appear  so  horrible,  and 
then  add  that  these  immigrant  bankers  for  the  most  part  were 
under  no  legal  compulsion  and  supervision,  but  left  to  the  ad- 
monition of  their  own  conscience,  and  the  record  is  highly 
complimentary  to  the  men  in  this  business. 

Postal  Savings  serve  Good  Purpose.  —  Many  of  the  immi- 
grant bankers  were  hard  pressed  when  the  panic  of  1907  came. 
The  foreigners  were  scared  and  mistrusted  their  best  friends. 
An  Italian  in  the  city  of  Pittsburgh  went  after  his  savings 
amounting  to  $1800.  The  banker  gave  it  to  him  and  the  man 
had  no  place  to  keep  it.   He  took  it  to  the  East  Liberty  sub- 


230 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


station  post  office,  gave  it  to  the  young  lady  in  charge  of  the 
office  for  safe-keeping  and  did  not  ask  for  a  receipt  of  any  kind. 
In  a  few  days  he  returned  and  took  out  nineteen  post-office 
orders  for  the  amount.  Thousands  of  foreigners  during  the 
year  of  financial  depression  used  the  postal  money  orders  for 
purposes  of  saving.  This  assumed  such  proportions  that  the 
postal  authorities  conducted  an  investigation  and  found  that 
its  orders  were  issued  in  one  year  to  the  amount  of  $8,000,000, 
and  it  would  have  been  much  more  had  not  post-masters  "been 
compelled  to  refuse  to  accept  deposits  offered  by  foreigners  for 
safe  keeping."  The  one  thing  the  foreigner  needs  is  a  safe  place 
to  keep  his  money,  and  this  should  be  afforded  him  by  the 
government  of  the  United  States.  Many  of  the  Italians  send 
money  to  Italy  to  be  deposited  in  the  postal  savings  bank  of 
that  nation.  They  have  more  confidence  in  the  impoverished 
government  of  the  homeland  than  in  the  institutions  of  the 
richest  nation  of  the  world.  We  hear  constantly  of  the  stream 
of  gold  flowing  back  to  Europe.  The  volume  is  large,  but  the 
average  sum  sent  per  man  is  less  than  $36.^  These  men's  total 
savings  flowing  eastward  aggregate  hundreds  of  millions  in 
years  of  prosperity,  but  the  sum  divided  by  the  number  of  senders 
amounts  to  about  a  month's  wage  to  unskilled  workers.  Our 
postal  savings  banks,  when  brought  within  reach  and  knowl- 
edge of  the  foreigners,  will  undoubtedly  check  this  flow  and  give 
these  men,  as  well  as  our  own  wage  earners,  a  convenient  and 
safe  medium  to  lay  aside  their  savings. 

Legislative  Safeguards.  —  Many  states  have  tried  to  safe- 
guard the  interest  of  the  foreigner  by  passing  laws,  putting  the 
banker  under  bond  and  making  his  accounts  subject  to  revision 
by  state  officials.  One  of  the  effects  has  been  to  drive  this 
class  of  business  into  the  hands  of  strong  firms  capable  of 
putting  up  the  required  bond,  while  smaller  ones  have  gone  to 
hiding.  In  Massachusetts,  the  bond  is  regulated  according  to 
the  amount  of  business  done,  in  New  Jersey,  New  York,  Con- 
necticut, and  Ohio,  it  is  a  fixed  sum,  $20,000,  $15,000,  $10,000, 

1  See  Immigration  Commission's  Abstract  of  Report  on,  "Immigration  Banks," 
p.  8s. 


BANKS  AND  SAVINGS 


231 


and  $5000,  respectively.  The  bonds  of  a  surety  company  may 
be  received  in  each  state,  and  the  Massachusetts  bank  commis- 
sioner says,  "  While  every  endeavor  is  made  to  render  these 
bonds  as  strong  as  possible,  they  are  unsatisfactory  at  best," 
while  to  get  this  surety  the  foreigner  has  to  pay  much  more  than 
the  native-born.  There  are  in  every  state  laws  against  fraud, 
and  the  difficulty  met  with  in  prosecuting  immigrant  bankers 
guUty  of  embezzlement  is  twofold  —  the  reluctance  of  a  for- 
eigner to  testify  against  his  countryman  and  bear  the  expense  of 
recovering  a  sum  less  than  $50,  and  the  impracticability  of  bring- 
ing to  court  satisfactory  evidence  that  money  has  been  retained 
which  should  be  sent  to  Europe.  These  same  difficulties  con- 
front executive  authority  no  matter  what  laws  are  passed. 

State  Regulations  Limited.  —  State  supervision  of  accounts 
will  only  reach  firms  doing  a  large  business  and  able  to  employ 
capable  bookkeepers.  These  will  be  found  in  populous  indus- 
trial centers,  but  such  a  law  will  not  reach  the  storekeeper  in  a 
mining  town,  who  accommodates  his  friends  by  putting  his  safe 
at  their  service,  and  whose  accounts  no  accountant  could 
decipher.  You  cannot  legislate  against  laws  of  friendship,  trust, 
and  confidence,  and  as  long  as  the  single  man  saves  money  and 
confides  in  the  saloon-keeper  or  the  grocer,  he  will  trust  him  with 
his  savings,  and  will  request  him  to  send  them  across  the  water 
via  the  channel  he  thinks  best.  The  laws  of  Massachusetts 
and  New  Jersey  may  have  done  some  good  in  protecting  the 
foreigners  against  fraud,  but  if  similar  laws  were  passed  in 
Pennsylvania,  New  York,  and  Illinois,  the  vast  majority  of  small 
immigrant  bankers  in  mining  patches  and  camps,  small  villages 
and  towns,  would  not  be  touched.  They  would  simply  do 
secretly  what  they  now  do  openly,  and  the  foreign-speaking  to 
a  man  would  have  another  occasion  to  practice  anarchy.  The 
better  way  is  to  extend  the  postal  savings  system,  educate  the 
foreigner  to  its  use,  put  it  within  convenient  distance  of  every 
mining  town  and  camp  in  the  country,  enlist  the  cooperation 
of  employers  in  making  it  easy  for  the  men  to  deposit  their 
money,  encourage  the  prosperous  immigrant  banker  to  attach 
himself  to  a  reliable  firm  of  bankers  whose  name  he  can  use  and 


232 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


back  of  whom  the  firm  stands  —  these  vnW.  do  more  to  eliminate 
the  small  percentage  of  ev'il  incident  to  immigrant  banking 
than  laws  passed  especially  designed  to  regulate  immigrant 
banks.  This  will  also  avoid  class  legislation  and  will  not  be 
the  occasion  of  perplexity  to  small  banking  concerns  in  rural 
commimities. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


CRIME  AND  THE  COURTS 

At  the  close  of  a  stereopticon  lecture,  delivered  in  one  of  the 
leading  cities  of  the  East,  in  which  two  charts  were  exhibited, 
showing  the  relative  criminality  of  the  foreign-born  and  the 
native-born,  a  gentleman,  prominent  in  public  affairs,  came  up 
and  said :  "  The  most  striking  thing  in  the  lecture  to  me  were 
the  charts  showing  that  the  native-born  was  more  criminal 
than  the  foreign-born.  I  have  always  thought  differently  and 
that  is  the  public  impression."  Yes,  it  is  the  public  impression 
and  one  which  is  well-nigh  impossible  to  correct.  There  are 
many  reasons  for  this.  When  a  foreigner  commits  crime,  the 
fact  that  he  is  foreign-born  is  mentioned,  and  the  innate  antip- 
athy felt  by  all  men  against  those  coming  from  foreign  lands 
deepens  the  impression  made  by  the  event ;  then  follows  a  hasty 
generalization,  that  all  foreigners  are  criminals.  Many  atro- 
cious deeds  have  been  perpetrated  by  immigrants  and  the  shock 
felt  by  the  native-born  intensifies  the  prejudices  against  aliens  and 
the  prevailing  impression  is  that  most  foreigners  are  barbarous 
beyond  measure.  Foreigners  also  live  in  urban  communities 
where  the  record  of  their  crimes  is  given  the  greatest  publicity. 

Facts  Published.  —  The  facts,  however,  show  that  the 
criminality  of  the  foreign-born  in  America  is  not  larger  than 
that  of  the  native-born.  Several  investigations  have  been  made 
and  the  figures  are  in  favor  of  the  foreign-born.  The  American 
Journal  of  Sociology  in  1896  brought  out  the  facts  very 
clearly,  but  this  and  subsequent  investigations  have  not  been 
eflScient  to  correct  the  impression  of  the  excessive  criminality 
of  foreigners  believed  in  by  so  many  Americans.  Recent 
statistical  investigations  have  been  made  and,  notwithstanding 

233 


234 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


the  great  influx  of  southeastern  peoples,  the  comparison  of  the 
criminal  record  of  the  foreign-born  and  the  native-born  is  still 
in  favor  of  the  former.  Of  the  total  number  of  prisoners  in  Sing 
Sing  on  September  30,  1909,  the  foreigners  only  formed  25  per 
cent,  while  in  the  city  of  New  York  they  formed  43  per  cent 
of  the  population.  The  Federation  Review,  November,  1909, 
published  figures  gathered  from  the  records  of  the  Court  of 
General  Sessions  in  the  county  of  New  York,  of  persons  con- 
victed of  crime  for  the  years  1904- 1908,  and  the  following  is  the 
table :  — 


ConNTEY  OP  NATivrrY 

Convictions 
1904-08 

Pee  Cent 

9,026 

64.2 

1,239 

8.8 

1,002 

7-1 

412 

2.9 

83 

.6 

28s 

1.9 

527 

3-8 

744 

S-3 

6S 

•S 

63 

.5 

75 

•5 

SSI 

3-9 

5,046 

3S-8 

Figures  favor  the  Foreign-bom.  —  In  the  census  of  1900, 
the  native-born  formed  57.8  per  cent  and  the  foreign-born  42. 2  per 
cent  of  the  population  of  this  cotmty,  and,  with  the  influx  from 
southeastern  Europe,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  the 
percentage  of  the  latter,  when  the  table  was  prepared,  was  a  few 
points  higher.  The  most  extensive  investigation  ever  made 
into  this  question  was  carried  on  by  the  government,  in  1904, 
and  published  under  the  caption  "  Prisoners  and  Juvenile 
Delinquents  in  Institutions."  The  figures  given  show  that 
"  in  the  North  Atlantic  states,  where  the  majority  of  the  immi- 
grant prisoners  were  enumerated,  the  immigrant  formed  a 


CRIME  AND  THE  COURTS 


smaller  part  of  the  whole  male  prisoners  of  known  nativity 
than  of  the  white  male  general  population  fifteen  years  of  age 
or  over."  Next  to  the  census  investigation,  the  most  satisfac- 
tory inquiry  was  that  carried  out  by  the  Immigration  Commis- 
sion, whose  report  on  "  Immigration  and  Crime  "  opens  with 
this  sentence :  "  No  satisfactory  evidence  has  yet  been  produced 
to  show  that  immigration  has  resulted  in  an  increase  in  crime 
disproportionate  to  the  increase  in  adult  population.  Such 
comparable  statistics  of  crime  and  population  as  it  has  been 
possible  to  obtain  indicate  that  immigrants  are  less  prone  to 
commit  crime  than  are  native  Americans."  ^  Of  the  number  of 
homicides  committed  in  the  United  States  in  the  last  twenty 
years  the  foreign-born  are  credited  with  16.50  per  cent.  The 
foreign-born  forms  14.50  per  cent  of  the  popiilation ;  but  here 
again  we  should  take  into  consideration  that  homicides  are 
crimes  generally  committed  in  cities,  and  the  foreign-born 
form  from  20  to  43  per  cent  of  the  population  of  industrial 
urban  communities  in  the  immigration  zone. 

Nature  of  Crime.  —  In  this  discussion  the  nature  of  the  offense 
should  also  be  considered.  The  Immigration  Commission,^  in 
its  investigation  into  the  criminality  of  foreigners  in  New  York 
City,  Chicago,  and  Massachusetts,  gives  results  which  are  not 
unfavorable  to  the  immigrants.  In  "  gainful  offenses,"  such 
as  blackmail  and  extortion,  burglary,  forgery  and  fraud,  lar- 
ceny and  receiving  stolen  property,  and  robbery  —  crimes 
which  are  the  result  of  meditation  and  planning,  and  perpetrated 
by  Ishmaelites  who  wage  war  against  society  —  these  acts  of  law- 
lessness form  a  larger  proportion  in  the  record  of  native-born 
criminals  than  in  that  of  immigrants,  the  ratio  being  as  10  to  6. 
In  offenses  of  personal  violence,  such  as  abduction  and  kidnap- 
ing, assault,  homicide,  and  rape,  the  immigrant  leads  the  native- 
born,  the  proportion  being  as  4-3  to  3*9.  In  offenses  against 
public  policy,  such  as  disorderly  conduct,  drunkenness,  malicious 
mischief,  violation  of  city  ordinances,  the  foreign-born  stUl 
lead,  the  figures  being  88.4  as  compared  with  84.9.    In  offenses 

'See  Immigration  Commission's  Abstract  of  Report  on,  "Immigration  and 
Crime,"  p.  7.  ^  Ibid.,  pp.  20  f. 


236 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


against  chastity,  the  foreign-born  and  the  native-born  have 
about  the  same  percentage  of  criminaUty.  In  the  study,  it  is 
also  worthy  of  note  that  among  the  foreign-bom  in  these  various 
groups  of  criminals,  the  men  of  the  new  immigration  are  not 
among  the  worst  of  offenders.  In  crimes  connected  with  pros- 
titution the  French  lead  ;  in  drunkenness  and  disorderly  conduct 
the  Scotch  and  Irish  lead ;  in  forgery,  the  Enghsh  and  the  Ger- 
mans lead ;  and  in  gainful  offenses,  the  last  two  nationalities 
stand  at  the  head  of  the  hst  of  immigrants.  WTien  we  come 
to  crimes  due  to  passion,  leading  to  assaults  upon  persons  and 
violent  deeds,  the  Italians,  the  Lithuanians,  and  Croatians  lead, 
while  86  per  cent  of  the  criminaUty  of  the  Greeks  in  Xew  York 
City  are  violations  of  corporation  ordinances,  principally  ped- 
dling without  Ucense,  and  another  10  per  cent  is  credited  to 
disorderly  conduct  and  violation  of  sanitar>-  laws.  Hence  the 
New  York  Commission  of  Immigration  ^  comments :  "A  large 
percentage  of  the  offenses  committed  by  immigrants  in  Xew 
York  City,  and  this  is  true  to  even  a  larger  degree  in  the  case 
of  ahens,  are  such  non-criminal  offenses  as  the  \'iolation  of 
corporation  ordinances  and  the  sanitary  code  .  .  .  (which) 
do  not  imply  actual  criminaUty  or  criminal  motives  on  the 
part  of  the  \'iolators."  Having  these  facts  before  us,  we  may 
look  into  the  criminal  life  of  foreigners  as  typified  in  specific 
cases. 

Brutal  Savagery.  —  The  savage  is  not  far  removed  from  most 
men  in  the  common  walks  of  life;  at  the  least  provocation  he 
comes  to  the  fore.  This  is  the  case  with  the  foreigners  from 
southeastern  Europe.  Most  of  them  have  no  moral  turpitude, 
but  heinous  crimes  are  committed  when  passion  is  inflamed 
by  drink  or  personal  insult  —  then  any  weapon  that  happens  to 
come  to  hand  is  used  for  an  assault.  A  group  of  foreigners,  in 
Aurora,  111.,  were  engaged  in  a  fight ;  one  of  the  men  seized  a  pick 
and  struck  another  on  the  head,  making  a  gash  two  inches  deep 
in  the  skull.  The  victim  was  instantly  paralyzed,  but  under 
medical  treatment  he  gained  consciousness  and  the  use  of  his 
limbs  excepting  one  foot,  which  is  stiU  in  a  paralyzed  condition. 
1  "Report  of  Commission  of  Immigration,"  State  of  New  York,  p.  63. 


CRIME  AND  THE  COURTS 


237 


Two  Hungarians  quarreled  in  a  saloon  in  Baltimore ;  one  of 
them  seized  a  broken  glass  and  ripped  open  the  face  of  the 
other  fellow  in  a  horrible  manner.  In  the  city  of  Hartford, 
two  men  fought  in  a  saloon ;  one  of  them,  seeing  a  second-hand 
store  close  by,  went  in  and  bought  a  knife,  then  returning  to 
the  saloon,  he  saw  a  man  drinking  at  the  bar  whom  he  sup- 
posed to  be  his  enemy,  and  stealthily  coming  up  from  behind, 
he  stabbed  him  to  the  death.  The  man  was  not  a  party  to  the 
fight.  Two  Italians  fought  in  Yonkers,  N.Y.,  when  one  of  them 
cut  off  the  other  fellow's  ear.  The  victim  picked  up  the  member, 
took  it  in  his  hand  to  the  hospital  and  humbly  asked  the  physi- 
cians if  they  would  kindly  sew  it  on  again.  The  surgeons  could 
not  accommodate  this  man,  although  a  remarkable  feat  was 
performed  by  these  men  some  weeks  previous.  This  was  also 
executed  on  an  Italian,  who  in  a  quarrel  was  stabbed  in  the 
heart ;  the  physican  opened  him,  sewed  the  wound  and  helped 
the  fellow  to  live  another  week.  But  of  all  savagery  perfected 
by  foreigners,  the  most  horrible  case  was  that  of  a  man  in  Utica, 
N.Y.  The  fellow  took  three  httle  children,  two  girls  of  eight 
and  six  and  a  little  boy  still  younger,  to  the  bush.  He  abused 
the  eldest  girl  and  tried  to  hide  his  sin  by  murder.  The  youngest 
girl  lived,  and,  after  a  night  in  the  open,  her  cries  were  heard  by 
men  going  to  work  at  five  o'clock  the  following  morning.  She 
gave  the  clew  to  the  arrest.  The  chief  of  police,  while  examin- 
ing the  man,  found  that  he  suffered  from  gonorrhea  and  know- 
ing the  foreigner's  belief  that  cohabitation  with  a  virgin  was  a 
sure  cure  for  the  disease,  he  drew  from  the  fellow  the  story  of 
his  crime.  A  Lithuanian  in  his  cups  becomes  more  fierce  than 
the  beast  of  the  forest ;  he  will  use  tooth  and  nail  to  tear  his 
victim,  if  other  implements  are  not  available.  All  this  is  a 
retrogression  to  savagery  and  can  only  be  dealt  with  by  the 
stern  arm  of  the  law,  but,  unfortunately,  this  is  often  wanting, 
and  the  crime  that  calls  to  heaven  for  punishment  goes  unpun- 
ished, for  the  foreigner  has  only  killed  a  fellow  foreigner. 

Drink  the  Cause  of  Crime.  —  Most  of  these  crimes  are  trace- 
able to  drink  and  housing  conditions.  The  vast  majority  of 
immigrants  from  southeastern  Europe  are  not  criminals  in  the 


238 


TEE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


fatherland.  There  is  more  lawlessness  in  foreign  colonies  in 
Pennsylvania  than  in  Galicia,  and  more  anarchy  in  Poland  in 
Chicago  than  in  Poland  in  Russia.  We  give  this  child  of  nature, 
dwelling  in  our  cities  and  making  more  money  than  he  ever 
saw  in  the  homeland,  too  many  saloons  where  "  doctored  " 
beer  and  "  rotten  "  whisky  are  sold.  These  the  degraded 
and  vicious  among  the  foreigners  mix  and  then  the  demon 
awakes  in  them.  In  a  section  of  South  Chicago,  the  police 
officers  go  in  pairs.  When  one  was  asked,  "  Why  do  you  go  in 
twos  here?  "  he  replied,  "  We  dare  not  go  single ;  the  foreigners 
go  in  squads  and  it  is  not  safe  for  an  officer  to  go  alone."  The 
saloons  in  the  district  are  many,  and  it  is  when  the  foreign-born 
have  these  for  their  home  that  they  become  a  terror  to  police 
and  authorities.  The  saloon  is  not  an  accessory  to  crime  in  the 
lives  of  Greeks,  Jews,  Italians,  Armenians,  and  Syrians,  for  they 
do  not  drink  to  excess ;  but  this  is  the  cause  of  the  majority  of 
crimes  in  the  lives  of  Slavs  and  Lithuanians,  Magyars  and 
Finns.  But  these  people,  when  living  in  communities  from 
which  the  saloons  have  been  eliminated,  are  peaceful,  law-abid- 
ing, and  industrious.  Of  course,  the  Greek  and  Italian,  the  Jew 
and  the  Syrian  furnish  their  percentage  of  criminals.  Horrible 
crimes  are  committed  by  them,  notwithstanding  they  do  not 
sacrifice  their  reason  to  Bacchus.  This  only  emphasizes  the 
fact  that  the  savage  breaks  out  in  every  nation,  and  it  can  only 
be  suppressed  by  the  executive  arm  of  government.  Of  all  the 
foreign-born  in  the  United  States,  none  is  more  peaceful  and 
law-abiding  than  the  Chinese,  and  against  these  we  have  closed 
the  door. 

Crimes  peculiar  to  Foreigners.  —  Certain  crimes  have  become 
more  prevalent  in  the  country  because  of  the  coming  of  south- 
eastern Europeans.  The  Greeks  and  Italians  have  shown,  in 
Chicago  and  New  York,  a  distinct  tendency  to  abduction  and 
kidnaping  ;  the  Russians  are  given  to  larceny  and  receiving 
stolen  goods ;  but  possibly  the  greatest  increase  in  crimes  due 
to  immigration  is  observed  in  drunkenness,  disorderly  conduct, 
vagrancy,  the  violation  of  city  ordinances,  and  crimes  incident 
to  city  life.    Many  foreigners  also  are  fond  of  gambUng  and  will 


CRIME  AND  THE  COURTS 


239 


freely  risk  their  pennies,  nickels,  and  dimes  in  the  hope  of  win- 
ning prizes.  The  evil  of  prostitution  has  also  been  intensified  by 
the  desire  for  gain  on  the  part  of  foreigners.  In  Gary,  it  is  said 
that  a  foreigner  sold  his  daughter  for  evil  purposes  for  $500. 
The  two  men  who  made  the  purchase  quarreled  for  first  posses- 
sion and  the  one  cut  the  throat  of  the  other.  The  traffic  in 
girls  brought  to  America  for  criminal  purposes  has  been  largely 
traced  to  foreign-born  men  and  women,  while  labor  agencies 
in  the  hands  of  foreigners  have  been  guilty,  for  extra  fees,  of 
sending  ignorant  and  helpless  foreign-speaking  girls  to  work  in 
disorderly  houses.  We  are  told  that  "  the  severity  of  our  laws 
in  the  matter  of  counterfeiting  is  well  known,  but  they  have  no 
terrors  whatsoever  for  the  gangs  of  Italian  counterfeiters  who 
are  giving  the  Secret  Service  Department  more  trouble  than  it 
has  ever  had  with  native  criminals  of  this  order."  The  love  of 
gain  in  many  of  these  men  leads  to  gross  wrongs.  The  commis- 
sary in  a  labor  camp  charged  a  man  for  tobacco  which  he  never 
used.  The  man  protested,  but  the  fellow  replied,  "  It  was  here 
and  you  could  use  it."  The  foreign-speaking  priest  is  not  above 
stooping  to  cunning  schemes  to  get  money.  Jesse  Jones  says  of 
one  of  the  schemes,  "  A  typewritten  letter,  inclosing  an  alumin- 
ium heart-shaped  medal  with  a  cross  upon  it,"  is  sent  to  for- 
eigners and  the  recipient  is  requested  "to  send  twenty-five  cents 
to  the  priest  and  give  him  the  name  of  three  friends  to  whom 
the  same  will  be  sent."  Some  men,  famiHar  with  the  custom 
of  making  the  sign  of  the  cross  as  a  promise  to  perform  certain 
things,  have  used  it  to  wheedle  credulous  newcomers  out  of 
their  money.  In  Detroit,  the  railroad  companies  had  con- 
siderable trouble  in  safeguarding  the  brass  connectings  of  air 
brakes  on  their  cars.  A  pair  of  these  cost  the  company  from 
$14  to  $15,  but  thieves  would  come  and  tear  away  the  brass  and 
sell  it  for  junk.  In  another  yard,  the  brass  bearings  of  the  cars 
were  stolen  —  the  thieves  must  have  provided  themselves  with 
jacks  before  they  could  remove  them. 

Appropriating  Fuel.  —  The  foreigners  are  ever  on  the  look- 
out for  wood  to  kindle  the  fire.  Men,  women,  and  children 
may  be  seen  any  day  in  a  foreign  colony  carrying  their  findings 


240 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


home.  In  Detroit,  a  property  was  in  dispute  between  two 
parties.  One  of  the  men  became  very  angry  and  told  the  Poles 
to  tear  down  the  house  and  carry  it  away.  They  did  so.  A 
police  officer  was  summoned,  but  he  was  helpless  to  stop  the 
depredation.  In  another  city,  a  brewery  owned  a  building 
used  as  a  saloon  in  a  foreign  quarter.  The  saloon-keeper  moved 
out,  and  that  night  the  foreigners  came,  tore  down  the  building 
and,  before  morning,  nothing  but  the  foundation  was  left.  Of 
course,  neither  of  these  buildings  was  of  a  very  high  character, 
but  it  shows  the  propensity  of  these  people  to  appropriate  for 
personal  use  what  is  not  safeguarded  by  personal  possession. 
It  well  illustrated  what  Mr.  Palmer,  in  "Russian  Life,"  says: 
"  Many  a  peasant  who  was  not  starving  would,  nevertheless, 
not  hesitate  to  carry  off  a  basket  of  potatoes  or  a  piece  of  bacon 
if  he  happened  to  wish  for  it  and  could  escape  detection.  His 
conscience  would  be  quite  at  rest,  for  he  would  consider  that 
such  property  was  not  personal,  but  belonged  to  the  estate."  ^ 
A  detective  in  Detroit  had  much  trouble  with  a  family  of  Poles, 
having  five  boys,  each  of  whom  had  been  in  the  industrial  home. 
The  parents,  during  the  years  the  boys  stole,  enjoyed  the  fruits 
of  the  spoil  and  encouraged  the  lads  in  their  work ;  the  only 
time  they  felt  sorry  was  when  an  officer  caught  one  of  the  lads. 
The  managers  of  state  reformatories  say  that  75  per  cent  of  the 
young  criminals  have  no  sense  of  moral  obligation :  in  the 
struggle  for  subsistence,  the  sense  of  right  and  wrong  is  crushed 
out  of  their  lives.  It  seems  to  be  pretty  much  the  same  in  the 
case  of  many  foreigners  from  certain  sections  of  Europe,  and  the 
seriousness  of  the  situation  is,  that  they  feel  a  sense  of  justifica- 
tion in  theft  and  commit  it  without  compunction.  A  banker 
in  Omaha  said  that  most  Greeks  were  wholly  unrehable  in 
monetary  matters. 

Foreigners  hide  Crime.  —  Police,  detectives,  and  constables 
have  difficulty  in  bringing  foreigners  to  justice.  The  chief 
obstacle  is  the  unwillingness  of  immigrants  to  reveal  the  hiding 
place  of  criminals  or  give  the  officers  of  the  law  such  information 
as  would  lead  to  their  arrest.    Two  Hungarians,  in  a  western 

^  See  page  loi. 


Saving  thk  Bui 
Children  of  Fordgn-born  Parents  gathering  Wood  and  Coal  for  the  Family  Fire. 


CRIME  AND  TEE  COURTS 


241 


city,  quarreled  as  they  were  going  home  after  an  evening  spent 
in  drink.  One  of  them  threatened  the  other,  and,  to  forestall  an 
attack,  the  man  took  out  a  knife  and  stabbed  his  friend.  The 
assailant  was  arrested  and  put  in  jail ;  the  injured  man  was 
taken  to  the  hospital,  where  he  lay  for  two  weeks.  As  soon  as 
he  left  the  hospital,  he  went  to  see  his  friend  in  jail  and  bailed 
him  out.  When  the  trial  came,  the  injured  man  testified  that 
his  friend  did  not  mean  to  hurt  him,  and  he  begged  the  judge  to 
liberate  him.  A  chief  of  police  in  an  eastern  city  gave  the 
following  account  of  an  Italian  who  shot  two  men  in  a  quarrel. 
The  man  was  arrested  and  acknowledged  his  crime.  The  chief 
took  the  criminal  to  the  hospital  where  the  two  men  lay,  and 
leading  him  to  the  ward  in  which  one  of  the  men  was  treated, 
asked  him,  "Is  this  the  man  who  shot  you?"  The  patient 
replied,  "  Yes."  The  criminal  then  added,  "  I  didn't  mean  to 
shoot  him,"  and  he  asked  pardon  of  the  man  and  wanted  to 
kneel  down  and  pray  with  him.  The  chief  then  took  the  criminal 
to  see  the  second  man  and  asked  him  the  same  question,  "  Is 
this  the  man  who  shot  you?  "  The  patient  said,  "  No."  The 
prisoner  said,  "  Yes,"  and  the  wounded  man  replied,  "No,  you 
not  shoot  me."  The  explanation  was,  the  wounded  man  did 
not  want  the  criminal  committed ;  he  preferred  to  have  him  free 
so  that  he  might  have  a  chance  to  settle  the  score.  An  Italian 
contractor,  in  Mt.  Vernon,  N.Y.,  had  a  dispute  with  one  of  his 
employees  and  would  not  pay  him  his  wages.  The  man  went 
to  the  contractor's  home  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  when 
from  twenty-five  to  thirty  other  men  were  present,  demanding 
his  pay,  and  on  being  again  refused,  he  stabbed  the  man  to  death. 
Not  one  of  the  thirty  men  present  raised  a  hand  to  detain  the 
prisoner,  and  the  fellow  with  his  accomplice  made  good  their 
escape.  To  understand  this  attitude  of  the  foreigner  toward 
the  officials  of  the  state,  the  following  quotation  is  illuminating : 
"  That  false  sense  of  honor  called  Omerta  makes  all  Sicilians 
regard  giving  evidence  against  a  criminal  as  an  abomination. 
This  feeling,  which  exists  to  a  certain  extent  even  in  other  parts 
of  Italy,  explains  why  the  judges  appear  so  severe  on  the  prisoners 
before  the  verdict,  and  why  they  attach  so  much  weight  to 


242 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


evidence  of  Carabinieri  and  police  officials;  they  know  that 
these  are  the  only  people  they  can  trust."  ^ 

Foreigners  Escape.  —  The  same  tendency  to  hide  the  criminal 
is  found  among  other  foreign-born  people  of  the  new  immigra- 
tion. A  Greek  in  a  western  city  had  committed  murder  and 
made  good  his  escape.  The  detective  traced  him  as  far  as 
Kansas  City  and  then  lost  his  clew.  He  returned  home,  kept 
quietly  on  the  hunt.  After  some  weeks,  he  saw  a  letter  stating 
that  the  criminal  had  returned  to  Kansas  City.  He  took  the 
letter  with  him  and,  finding  the  wTiter,  he  asked  him,  "  Where  is 
the  criminal?  "  The  Greek  at  once  denied  all  knowledge  of 
him.  The  detective  showed  him  his  letter  and  immediately 
the  fellow  wilted  —  yes,  he  would  show  him  where  he  stayed. 
It  was  late  and  before  they  reached  the  place  where  the  fellow 
roomed  it  was  about  midnight.  The  Greek  guide  refused  to  go 
farther  than  the  street  corner,  then,  pointing  out  the  house,  he 
fled  as  if  in  mortal  terror.  The  criminal  had  threatened  to  cut 
this  man's  throat  and  he  was  very  much  afraid.  The  detective 
beheved  that  the  Greeks  in  that  territory  have  some  secret 
society  to  defend  the  criminal  and  punish  the  "  squealer."  The 
same  tendency  to  hide  crime  is  true  of  the  Slavs.  A  Croatian 
committed  murder  and  was  followed  by  the  detectives.  His 
fellow-coimtrymen  were  inter\dewed  as  to  his  whereabouts; 
they  seemed  -niUing  to  give  all  information,  while  at  the  same 
time  they  were  sending  money  to  the  fellow  to  get  out  of  the 
country.  A  gang  of  ten  or  fifteen  Lithuanians  in  the  coal  fields 
of  Pennsylvania,  under  the  leadership  of  "  Terrible  Pete,"  held 
a  section  of  the  territory  in  terror  for  several  years,  until  finally 
the  leader  and  some  of  his  followers  were  brought  to  justice. 
No  matter  where  the  foreigner  is,  he  seems  to  be  able  to  make 
good  his  escape.  In  the  tenement  districts,  the  alleys  aid  him 
to  flee,  and  in  small  commimities  his  fellow-countrymen  -noU 
not  make  the  crime  known  until  he  has  time  to  escape.  To 
bring  this  man  to  a  consciousness  of  his  duty  to  the  state,  to 
secure  his  aid  in  the  detection  of  crime,  to  bring  the  criminal  to 
justice  is  a  task  that  will  take  time.    Jacob  Riis  tells  us  that  it 

1  Villari,  "Italian  Life  in  Town  and  Country,"  pp.  230  f. 


CRIME  AND  THE  COURTS 


243 


is  not  hopeless ;  he  says  that  some  Italians  in  New  York  City 
give  up  their  friends  to  the  officers  of  the  law,  "  which  seems  to 
indicate  that  the  old  vendetta  is  being  shelved  and  a  new  idea 
of  law  and  justice  is  breaking."  ^ 

Murder  is  Murder.  —  This  criminality  of  the  foreigners  will 
not  cease  until  the  officers  of  the  law  in  the  United  States  resolve 
to  follow  the  foreign-born  criminal  when  he  kills  his  fellow- 
countryman  as  assiduously  as  they  follow  him  when  he  kills 
a  native-born.  One  of  our  district  attorneys  used  to  say  when 
a  Slav  killed  a  Slav,  or  an  Italian  killed  one  of  his  countrymen, 
"Let  'em  go;  I  don't  care  about  the  business."  Many  good 
people  say  when  murder  is  committed,  "  It  is  only  one  less 
foreigner."  Less  than  3  per  cent  of  the  foreign-born  murderers 
are  brought  to  justice,  and  the  victims  of  their  atrocity,  almost 
to  a  man,  are  their  foreign-born  brethren.  When  "  Red-nose 
Mike  "  lay  in  ambush  to  kill  a  paymaster  and  perpetrated  his 
dastardly  deed,  the  arm  of  the  law  followed  the  murderer  across 
two  continents  and  brought  him  back  to  America  to  stand 
trial,  and  infficted  upon  him  the  full  penalty  of  the  law;  but 
if  this  same  fellow  had  killed  one  of  his  own  people,  the  arm  of 
the  law  would  not  have  followed  him  over  two  counties.  When 
a  Commission  investigated  the  Chinese  question  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  it  brought  to  light  sixty  murders  of  Chinese,  and  not  one 
of  the  murderers  was  brought  to  trial.  A  foreman  of  a  gang  of 
Italians,  working  on  a  railroad  in  a  southern  state,  became 
angry  at  one  of  them,  took  a  steel  bar  and  struck  him  on  the 
head,  and  instantly  killed  him.  He  was  not  tried,  much  less 
punished,  for  it  was  "just  one  less  wop."  Murder  is  murder 
no  matter  who  is  the  victim,  and  the  crime  of  homicide  can  only 
be  brought  home  to  the  foreigner  when  impartial  and  stern  jus- 
tice is  dispensed  in  the  land  to  all  nationalities  living  under  the 
stars  and  stripes. 

Foreigners  keep  Courts  Busy.  —  Wherever  foreigners  form 
the  major  part  of  the  population  the  courts  are  kept  busy.  The 
district  attorney  of  Westchester  County,  N.Y.,  made  the  state- 
ment that  40  per  cent  of  the  crime  is  furnished  by  30  per  cent 

» "Battle  with  the  Slum,"  p.  187. 


244 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


of  the  population.  In  the  anthracite  coal  counties  of  Penn- 
sylvania, the  judges  would  have  very  Httle  to  do  if  the  foreigners 
were  to  observe  the  law  and  keep  out  of  court.  The  foreigner, 
however,  is  not  wholly  responsible  for  this  state  of  affairs. 
In  these  communities  are  found  an  army  of  constables  and 
justices  of  peace  who  look  for  business  and  create  it;  also 
runners  who  stir  up  strife  and  shyster  lawyers  who  pose  as 
champions  of  the  poor,  ignorant  workingman,  parasites  who 
trade  upon  the  ignorance  of  the  foreigner  and  take  his  money 
and  sometimes  his  property  in  the  most  heartless  fashion; 
saloon-keepers  who  stop  not  at  anything  to  debauch  and  debase 
the  foreigner ;  and  back  of  the  retail  rum  seller  stands  the 
native-born  brewer  who  reaps  his  golden  harvest  by  the  sale  of 
the  cause  of  60  per  cent  of  the  crimes  of  which  immigrants  are 
guilty.  In  no  state  where  these  conditions  obtain  will  the 
foreigner  cease  to  be  a  criminal,  any  more  than  malaria  will 
cease  in  swampy  land  where  decayed  vegetation  lies.  The  vast 
majority  of  men  in  the  new  immigration  come  to  us  innocent 
and  confiding,  but  they  soon  lose  these  qualities  in  an  en\dron- 
ment  largely  due  to  native-born  agencies.  The  sentiment  of 
an  Italian  expressed  in  the  following  words  reflects  the  attitude 
of  the  average  foreigner  in  America,  "  You  know  American 
mans  ain't  good  to  Itahans  only  he  make  de  graft."  Where 
Americans  are  just  and  sympathetic,  the  result  is  different. 
An  employer  of  labor  in  Pennsylvania  banished  the  saloon  from 
his  premises,  he  protected  the  foreigner  from  the  curse  of  drink ; 
at  first,  many  of  them  protested  and  believed  that  they  could 
not  work  without  beer.  The  employer  was  firm  and,  to-day, 
he  has  the  best  group  of  foreign-speaking  workmen  found  in 
any  plant  in  the  country.  Instances  are  not  uncommon  where 
patriotic  and  Christian  lawyers  have  championed  the  cause  of 
the  foreigners  against  men  who,  under  the  guise  of  legal  trans- 
action, were  no  better  than  blackmailers.  To  drive  out  of 
business  the  smooth  and  sHppery  constable  who  incites  the 
foreigner  to  crime ;  to  banish  the  justice  of  the  peace  who  knows 
only  how  to  impose  fines  and  collect  them ;  to  drive  out  of 
business  the  runners  and  bondsmen  who  grow  fat  upon  the  inno- 


CRIME  AND  THE  COURTS 


245 


cent  immigrants  ;  to  banish  the  shyster  lawyer  in  whose  clutches 
the  foreigner  is  as  a  fly  in  the  maw  of  a  spider  —  this  we  owe 
in  justice  to  the  immigrants. 

Environment  and  Crime.  —  Some  members  of  the  Immigration 
Commission  are  anxious  to  devise  some  means  of  detecting  persons 
coming  to  this  country  having  criminal  tendencies  but  who  are 
not  actual  criminals  ;  that  is  visionary,  but  it  is  perfectly  prac- 
tical for  each  law-abiding  citizen  to  resolve  to  fight  conditions 
that  make  criminals  of  the  immigrants  when  they  come  to 
our  land.  Like  breeds  like.  Native-born  criminals  generate 
foreign-born  ones.  Take  the  following  as  a  sample  of  how  the 
buzzards  swoop  down  upon  the  prey.  A  foreign-speaking 
butcher  owed  a  girl  $300.  The  store  was  foreclosed  by  a  con- 
stable and  that  night  half  the  goods  were  stolen.  The  fixtures 
and  accompaniments  for  the  butcher's  trade  were  estimated 
at  $800,  but  when  the  sale  came  off,  a  friend  of  the  legal  agent 
bought  the  whole  in  for  $77.84.  The  expenses  incident  to  the 
sale  amounted  to  $75.84,  and  the  young  foreign-speaking  girl, 
who  had  freely  given  her  services  to  that  man,  got  $2.  The 
butcher  would  never  have  been  able  to  do  this  of  himself ; 
his  accompHces  were  the  cunning  and  conniving  knaves  in  the 
form  of  a  constable  and  a  justice  of  the  peace.  When  these 
ofl&cers  were  brought  to  trial  for  malfeasance,  the  constable 
was  brazen  enough  to  swear  in  court  that  the  girl  owed  him 
$7.50  for  expenses.  Could  such  a  travesty  of  justice  take  place 
in  any  other  civilized  country?  What  must  have  been  the  im- 
pression made  upon  these  foreign-speaking  persons  concerning 
justice  in  America?  A  Greek,  in  Kansas  City,  by  the  name  of 
Pascal  Pass,  had  traveled  very  extensively  in  America,  as  well 
as  in  Canada  and  South  Africa.  He  acted  as  court  interpreter 
occasionally  and  said  that  he  had  a  brother  who  was  ofi&cial 
interpreter  for  the  British  government  in  Cape  Colony.  When 
asked  if  he  observed  any  difference  in  the  American  courts  as 
compared  with  those  of  Cape  Colony,  he  smiled  and  said, 
"  Here,  I  see  perjury  in  every  court,  but  there  it  is  very  different 
—  it  is  a  penitentiary  offense."  The  foreigner  when  he  comes 
into  small  towns,  face  to  face  with  America's  judicial  institution. 


246 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


does  not  have  the  deference  to  authority  he  showed  in  Europe. 
There  it  is  a  part  of  his  education  and  is  well  ground  into  him, 
but  he  is  not  long  in  America  before  he  loses  it.  The  men  who 
hold  the  positions  of  justices  of  peace  in  industrial  centers 
are  often  inefficient  and  ignorant,  and  many  of  the  documents 
they  execute  are  worthless  and  refused  by  county  clerks.  When 
aliens  appear  in  higher  courts,  the  tipstaff,  as  well  as  every  other 
official,  treats  them  as  if  their  very  presence  there  were  an 
intrusion.  A  Pohsh  woman,  in  one  of  the  courts  of  Milwaukee, 
was  on  the  stand  giving  evidence  when  one  of  the  pohce  officers 
referred  toheras"  Polack."  She  turned  to  him  and  said,  "Would 
you  like  me  to  call  you  '  Irish  '  ?  "  "  No,"  was  his  reply.  "  And 
no  more,"  said  she,  "  do  I  like  you  to  call  me  Polack.  I'm  as 
good  an  American  as  you  are."  She  was  better,  and  most  of 
them  are  better  Americans  than  the  venal,  grafting,  grasping 
and  inefficient  petty  officials  who  insult  and  bulldoze  them  in 
the  courts.^ 

Crime  begets  Crime.  —  A  pubUc  convention  was  held  near 
Coatesville,  Pa.,  soon  after  that  holocaust  of  a  negro  in  that 
town  —  the  man  was  taken  from  a  bed  in  the  hospital  and  bar- 
barously burnt  under  a  tree  on  the  public  highway.  Within 
twenty  yards  of  the  scene  of  that  savagery  lived  some  twenty 
families  of  foreigners,  but  not  one  of  them  had  a  hand  in  that 
shameful  act.  Many  of  them  witnessed  it,  they  knew  what  was 
going  on,  they  saw  native-born  Americans  perpetrating  a  deed 
that  was  once  common  on  this  continent  among  savages  of 
three  hundred  years  ago.  Can  any  one  tell  what  the  foreigners 
of  Coatesville  think  of  their  American  neighbors?  This  spirit 
of  lawlessness  is  the  one  thing  that  makes  anarchists  of  so  many 
immigrants.  They  cannot  interpret  the  idea  of  liberty  save  in 
terms  of  recklessness  and  lawlessness  as  witnessed  in  the  lives 
of  so  many  Americans.  An  Italian  was  once  asked  what  was 
the  meaning  of  the  Fourth  of  July  and  he  said,  "  Free  day,  do 

*  When  I  asked  a  judge  in  one  of  the  cities  of  New  York  why  foreign-born 
criminals  escaped,  he  said  :  "  They  are  too  smart  for  the  type  of  men  we  select  for 
poHce  officers.  The  average  officer  will  not  compare  for  a  moment  with  the  foreign- 
born  criminal  in  cunning  and  resource,  hence  they  can't  catch  them." 


CRIME  AND  THE  COURTS 


247 


what  you  will,  kill  a  man  and  you're  free."  The  pushcart  man, 
the  licensed  saloon-keeper,  the  peddler,  the  violators  of  the  cus- 
tom laws,  have  learnt  that  it  is  possible  to  evade  the  law  with 
impunity.  They  know  that  a  dollar  covers  a  multitude  of 
transgressions  and  that  every  wave  of  reform  is  ephemeral. 
Many  of  them  have  been  trained  by  sinister  politicians  not  to 
observe  the  laws,  and  the  profits  of  illegality  are  divided  with 
their  advisers  and  conniving  officers.  All  this  is  drifting  to 
anarchy  and  has  a  bad  effect  upon  the  incoming  millions  of 
southeastern  Europe.  The  cure  for  all  this  is  not  more  legisla- 
tion, for  many  legislators  in  municipality  and  state  are  the 
gravest  offenders.  The  remedy  must  come  by  a  quickened 
social  conscience.  The  sense  of  justice  and  right  in  the  heart 
of  the  foreigners  must  be  strengthened  by  the  native-born,  so 
that  they  will  help  the  forces  of  right  to  put  out  of  business 
the  sinister  politician,  the  ignorant  notary  public,  the  inefficient 
justice  of  the  peace,  and  the  notorious  constable.  Locks  and 
bolts  have  their  use  in  curbing  the  savage  beast  in  the  human 
breast,  but  these  repressive  agencies  will  not  suffice ;  the  locks 
and  bolts  in  the  soul  of  civilized  men  must  be  appealed  to,  and 
each  one  individually  taught  to  suppress  those  criminal  tenden- 
cies which  have  cost  man  so  much  in  his  march  from  savagery 
to  civilization.  America's  only  hope  of  seeing  the  foreigners 
doing  this  is  by  the  native-born  taking  the  lead  —  then  the 
new  immigration  will  follow. 


CHAPTER  XVII 


Politics 

PouTics  have  played  an  important  part  in  the  question  of 
immigration,  varying  in  its  attitude  toward  the  foreigners, 
according  to  the  economic  condition  of  the  country,  but  ever 
jealous  of  its  rights  to  govern  the  affairs  of  the  nation  according 
to  American  ideals  and  ever  ready  to  combat  any  supposed 
influence  arising  from  the  presence  of  foreigners  in  the  body 
politic.  From  colonial  times  down  to  the  close  of  the  first 
quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  immigration  was  taken  as  a 
matter  of  course  and  looked  upon  with  favor.  Nothing  was  done 
to  regulate  it  save  the  enactment  of  a  law  in  1819,  regarding  the 
carriage  of  steerage  passengers.  The  words  of  Hannibal 
Hamlin  well  express  the  consensus  of  opinion  of  Americans, 
previous  to  1850:  "  I  believe  in  principles  coeval  with  the  foun- 
dation of  government,  that  this  country  is  '  the  home  of  the 
free,'  where  the  outcast  of  every  nation,  where  the  chUd  of  every 
creed  and  of  every  clime  would  breathe  our  free  air  and  partici- 
pate in  our  free  institutions." 

Catholic  Immigrants  Feared.  —  Early  in  the  thirties  of  the 
last  century,  this  attitude  of  the  native-born  changed.  Immi- 
gration at  this  time  did  not  exceed  an  average  of  60,000  a  year, 
but  the  native-born  of  the  cities  were  alarmed  and  sought 
refuge  in  the  organization  of  the  Native  American  Party  and  the 
Know  Nothing  Party.  These  were  movements  largely  based 
upon  prejudice  against  immigrants  and  especially  those  of 
the  Catholic  faith.  The  agitation  was  strongest  in  the  states 
of  Massachusetts,  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania,  into  which, 
at  this  early  period,  the  major  part  of  the  immigrants  went. 
The  movement,  however,  swept  to  the  West  and  South.  In 
1840,  the  majority  of  the  voters  in  Cincinnati  were  foreign-born, 

248 


POLITICS 


249 


and  the  cry  was  raised  that  "  our  institutions,  our  liberties,  our 
system  of  government  were  at  the  mercy  of  men  from  the 
monarchical  countries  of  Europe."  Four  years  later,  the  Order 
of  United  Americans  was  established  and  the  following  words 
appeared  in  its  constitution  :  "  During  the  last  few  years,  events 
of  the  most  alarming  nature  have  transpired,  which  threaten 
to  annihilate  these  glorious  institutions  bequeathed  to  us  by  our 
patriotic  sires.  .  .  .  We  with  sorrow  have  seen  many  of  our 
countrymen  united  with  the  citizens  of  foreign-birth,  in  enacting 
laws  and  supporting  principles  that  must  inevitably  end  in  the 
subversion  of  our  liberties,  unless  we  rally  in  the  majesty  of 
our  strength  now,  while  we  have  the  power,  and  forever  stay 
the  further  progress  of  dangerous  invasion  upon  our  established 
laws."  These  high-sounding  words,  at  a  time  when  immigration 
was  fluctuating  between  40,000  and  80,000  per  annum,  cannot 
be  interpreted  save  on  the  principle  of  jingoism,  which  was 
effectual  in  local  politics,  but  had  very  little  effect  upon  national 
legislation.  At  the  very  time  these  movements  were  strongest. 
President  Tyler,  referring  in  his  message  to  Congress  to  immi- 
gration, used  the  following  words :  "  We  hold  out  to  the  people 
of  other  countries  an  invitation  to  come  and  settle  among  us  as 
members  of  our  rapidly  growing  family,  and  for  the  blessing 
which  we  offer  them,  we  require  of  them  to  look  upon  our  country 
as  their  country  and  unite  with  us  in  the  greatest  task  of  preserv- 
ing our  institutions  and  thereby  perpetuating  our  liberties." 
This  was  a  dispassioned  statement  of  a  statesman  and  stands 
in  striking  contrast  with  the  attempt  made  by  the  leaders  of 
the  above  parties  to  impose  a  head  tax  of  $20  upon  every  immi- 
grant and  make  the  period  of  probation  for  citizenship  twenty- 
one  years. 

America  for  Americans.  —  The  next  impassioned  wave  against 
incoming  immigrants  swept  over  the  country  in  the  fifties  of  the 
last  century,  when  famine,  oppression,  and  abject  misery  drovp 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  Irish  to  America.  Then  the  Know 
Nothing  Party,  in  the  states  of  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  Illinois, 
Iowa,  and  the  New  England  states,  demanded  "  that  Americans 
must  rule  America,  and  to  this  end  native-bom  citizens  should 


250 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


be  selected  for  all  state,  federal,  and  municipal  government 
employment  in  preference  to  all  others."  The  advocates  of  these 
principles  were  active  and  successful  in  state  and  local  poUtics, 
and  their  ambition  was  to  carry  the  issue  into  national  poUtics 
and  make  the  whole  country  their  field  of  operation.  They 
nominated  a  candidate  for  the  presidency  in  1855,  carried  the 
agitation  to  Congress,  and  proposed  laws  which,  if  passed,  would 
have  radically  changed  the  policy  of  the  nation  regarding  the 
admission  and  the  naturalization  of  immigrants.  The  move- 
ment failed.  It  was  opposed  to  the  fundamental  principles  of 
democracy  and  derived  its  main  support  from  selfish  men  anxious 
to  retain  the  spoils  of  ofl&ce.  The  spirit  of  the  statesmen  of  the 
nation  was  very  different  and  their  words  and  actions  in  Congress 
showed  no  sympathy  with  the  Know  Nothing  Party.  The 
heart  of  the  nation  was  also  true  to  the  basic  principles  of 
democracy.  At  the  very  time  the  "  Know  Nothings  "  reached 
the  acme  of  their  strength,  the  federal  government  gave  the 
right  of  suffrage  to  all  foreigners  declaring  their  intention  to 
become  citizens  in  the  territories  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas,  and 
laid  down  the  principle  that  free  grants  of  land  should  also  be 
given  to  immigrants  who  settled  and  made  America  their  future 
home. 

Contract  Labor  Law  Passed.  —  After  the  Civil  War,  Congress 
was  disposed  to  encourage  immigration,  in  order  to  supply  the 
demand  for  labor,  which  then  became  very  urgent.  Legislation 
favorable  to  this  policy  was  passed,  but  not  without  opposition. 
At  this  early  date,  the  advocates  of  the  contract  labor  law  made 
their  demand  on  Congress;  they  kept  up  the  agitation  until 
a  law  was  passed,  in  1885,  closing  the  door  against  the  immigrant 
who  contracted  for  a  sure  means  of  subsistence  when  he  landed 
in  a  strange  country.  Since  that  time,  nearly  every  Congress 
has  had  the  immigration  question  before  it,  either  to  appoint  a 
commission  to  investigate  the  condition  of  immigrants  both  in 
America  and  in  Europe,  or  to  modify  the  laws  regulating  their 
admission  as  well  as  the  process  of  naturalization.  The  conflict 
between  state  and  nation,  as  to  which  had  the  right  to  legislate 
upon  immigration,  was  finally  decided  in  favor  of  the  latter, 


POLITICS 


and  soon  uniform  laws  relating  to  the  admission  of  immigrants 
were  passed  and  enforced  in  every  port  at  which  immigrants 
landed.  Since  the  early  eighties  of  the  last  century,  when  the 
federal  government  took  over  the  work,  many  changes  have 
been  made  in  the  immigration  laws.  The  head  tax  has  been 
raised  from  50  cents  to  $4,  and  efforts  are  still  being  made  to 
raise  it  to  $10  or  more.  Many  attempts  have  been  made  to 
impose  upon  immigrants  a  literary  test,  but  the  words  of  Presi- 
dent Cleveland,  that  it  was  safer  "  to  admit  a  hundred  thousand 
immigrants  who,  though  unable  to  read  and  write,  seek  among 
us  a  home  and  opportunity  to  work,  than  to  admit  one  of  those 
unruly  agitators  who  cannot  only  read  and  write,  but  deUghts 
in  arousing  by  inflammatory  speech  the  illiterate  and  peacefully 
inclined  to  discontent,"  have  found  a  response  in  the  American 
heart  that  has  defeated  every  such  effort.  He  answered  the 
claim  that  the  new  immigrants  were  undesirable  by  saying, 
"  The  time  is  quite  within  recent  memory  when  the  same  thing 
was  said  of  immigrants  who,  with  their  descendants,  are  now 
numbered  among  our  best  citizens,"  and  the  efforts  made  to  cut 
off  the  "  birds  of  passage  "  —  men  who  crossed  the  border 
from  Canada,  Mexico,  etc.,  to  secure  seasonal  work  in  this 
country  —  the  President  declared  "  ilUberal,  narrow,  and  un- 
American  "  and  that  the  border  states  "  have  separate  and  espe- 
cial interests  which  in  many  cases  make  an  interchange  of  labor 
between  their  people  and  their  aUen  neighbors  most  important, 
frequently  with  the  advantage  largely  in  favor  of  our  citizens." 

Retrogression  or  Progress.  —  Notwithstanding  these  sane 
words  of  President  Cleveland,  the  question  of  immigration  is 
not  settled.  The  present  outlook  is  that  the  sixty-third  Con- 
gress will  open  up  the  whole  question,  and  discuss  measures 
proposing  radically  to  change  present  legislation.  Three 
generations  of  Congressmen  and  legislators  have  discussed  the 
immigration  problem,  involving  the  welfare  of  millions  of 
persons,  and  never  has  the  world  witnessed  more  bigotry,  self- 
ishness, and  prejudice  in  the  treatment  of  any  question  of 
public  policy  than  have  been  exhibited  in  this.  We  have  cen- 
sured the  old  world  because  it  has  tolerated  the  landlords  to 


252 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


dominate  its  politics ;  we  have  denounced  as  narrow  and 
bigoted  the  restrictions  imposed  by  European  governments 
upon  men  because  of  creed  and  faith ;  we  have  derided  as 
medieval  the  barriers  put  upon  the  mobility  of  labor  on  the 
continents ;  we  have  pronounced  the  attempts  to  withhold  the 
rights  of  the  franchise  from  the  toiling  masses  of  Europe  unjust 
and  inhuman,  and  yet  in  the  "  home  of  the  free,"  the  land  of 
"  inalienable  rights,"  all  these  barriers  to  human  progress 
have  been  preached  with  a  fervor  and  a  zeal  that  would  put  the 
statesmen  of  the  houses  of  Bourbon  and  Hapsburg  to  shame. ' 
From  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  champions  of  the  poor  working- 
man  have  instituted  petty  persecutions  against  immigrants,  of 
which  every  broad-minded  American  was  thoroughly  ashamed. 
The  cry  of  "  America  for  Americans  "  is  base.  The  spirit  of 
trade-unionism  to  monopolize  the  labor  market  is  narrow. 
The  demand  to  close  the  door  against  the  peoples  of  south- 
eastern Europe  is  fatal  to  the  realization  of  the  brotherhood  of 
man.  The  attempt  to  shut  out  from  shops  and  mines,  from 
camps  and  public  works,  all  wage  earners  who  are  not  citizens, 
disturbs  the  comity  of  nations.  America  has  sovereign  power 
over  its  territory,  but  among  nations  as  among  individuals 
there  are  courtesies  and  rights,  and  these  must  be  shown  to  our 
neighbors.  The  United  States  has  a  right  to  say  who  can  come 
in,  but  its  policy  in  the  exercise  of  this  right  should  be  based 
upon  what  is  best  for  the  harmonious  development  of  its  civili- 
zation and  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  its  citizens,  and  not 
upon  the  interest  of  certain  classes  or  sections  of  the  country. 
If  immigration  is  to  be  controlled,  let  it  be  done  in  the  spirit  of 
the  twentieth  century  and  not  in  that  of  the  dark  ages.  The 
rights  of  labor  should  be  recognized,  but  not  to  the  exclusion  of 
those  of  capital  and  commerce.  If  the  workmen  of  the  world 
are  to  cooperate,  restrictions  as  to  travel,  domicile,  and  choice 
of  work  must  be  removed.  America  has  always  guarded  against 
the  entrance  of  elements  into  the  body  politic  that  would  pull 
down  rather  than  build  up  the  nation,  and  it  does  this  to-day 
more  thoroughly  than  ever  before.  The  states  have  conserved 
the  interests  of  the  wage  earners  and  thrown  around  this  stand- 


POLITICS 


253 


ard  of  living  safeguards  which  ward  off  attacks  from  men  of 
backward  nations.  But  the  statesmanship  back  of  these  meas- 
ures should  not  be  narrow  and  selfish,  nor  accompanied  by 
insult  to  older  and  friendly  peoples.  Industrial  America  is  in 
its  infancy  and  must  depend  upon  European  labor  for  its  growth  ; 
the  demands  of  the  twentieth  century  civilization  are  yet  far 
from  being  reaUzed  in  America  ;  the  fruition  of  the  institutions 
laid  down  by  the  founders  of  the  Republic  are  not  enjoyed  by 
any  of  this  favored  land  ;  and  before  this  potential  wealth,  this 
higher  civiUzation,  and  this  heritage  of  wise  ancestors  can  be 
ours,  we  must  look  beyond  our  own  territorial  boiuidaries  and 
regulate  our  relation  with  other  nations  in  the  spirit  of  peace 
and  good  will,  and  in  the  light  of  the  Christian  conscience. 

Naturalization  more  Difficult.  —  The  law  of  1906  has  made 
the  process  of  naturahzation  uniform  throughout  the  country, 
has  stopped  the  practice  of  "  railroading  "  aliens  in  groups 
through  naturalization  courts,  and  tends  to  add  dignity  to 
the  action  by  limiting  the  jurisdiction  to  a  court  of  record.  It 
has  also  made  it  more  diflBicult  and  expensive  for  the  alien  to 
get  the  right  of  citizenship.  A  Magyar  in  Lorain,  Ohio,  was 
anxious  to  become  a  citizen.  He  was  a  good  father,  owned  the 
house  in  which  he  lived,  was  sober  and  industrious,  was  influen- 
tial among  his  countrymen,  but  his  knowledge  of  English  and 
of  government  was  hopelessly  limited  and  he  was  debarred  from 
entering  into  the  family.  The  abuses  common  to  the  process 
of  naturalization  prior  to  the  passage  of  this  act  were  decried 
by  all  patriots,  and  they  could  only  be  remedied  by  Congressional 
action  ;  but  when  the  standard  was  raised,  some  practical  means 
ought  to  have  been  devised  to  aid  the  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  the  men  of  the  new  immigration,  who  would  gladly  become 
citizens  if  their  education  were  broader  and  their  knowledge 
of  government  more  extensive.  Thousands  of  these  men  possess 
all  the  manly  qualities  which  make  good  citizenship,  but  they 
grew  up  in  an  atmosphere  so  different  from  our  own,  that  it  is 
very  difficult  for  them  to  understand  what  our  government  is. 
The  expenses  attached  to  naturalization  are  high.  Many  of 
these  men  employ  counsel,  they  must  get  two  witnesses,  and 


254 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


although  they  come  to  court  prepared  to  take  the  examination, 
they  are  not  sure  that  they  -will  be  called.  Some  men,  having 
lost  time  and  money  in  going  five  times  for  their  last  papers  and 
being  disappointed  each  time,  gave  up  the  effort.  The  New 
York  Immigration  Commission  ^  gives  many  instances  of  abuse, 
rowdyism,  and  graft  in  the  courts  of  that  state.  One  man  said, 
"  I  lost  six  days  of  my  working  time,  and  was  jeered  at  by  the 
first  clerk  at  the  desk,  and  when  I  called  the  sixth  time,  he  would 
not  listen  to  me.  I  then  went  to  the  politician  who  went  there 
with  me  and  I  was  attended  to  at  once."  These  conditions  are 
bad  and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  the  immigrants  as  a 
whole  fared  better  under  the  old  law.  Some  clerks  in  naturali- 
zation courts  are  gentlemen,  others  are  a  terror  to  apphcants. 
It  is  trying  to  many  clerks  to  labor  hard  and  long  with  for- 
eigners and  receive  inadequate  compensation,  but  they  should 
not  try  to  get  their  pay  by  bulldozing  and  jeering  "  coming 
Americans."  One  of  the  courts  of  Vermont  sent  to  the  Com- 
missioner General  of  Immigration  the  statement  that  it  cost  the 
state  $ioo  a  day  to  hold  court,  and  that  each  case  of  naturaliza- 
tion cost  about  $14  ;  if  the  clerk  of  the  court  could  not  collect 
that  amount  from  the  government,  it  could  not  do  the  business. 
These  difficulties,  precipitated  by  the  new  law,  have  made  it 
much  harder  and  more  expensive  for  aUens  to  secure  the  rights 
of  citizenship.  It  is  very  important  that  the  right  of  franchise 
should  be  properly  valued  and  conferred  with  dignity  upon 
aUens,  but  it  is  a  mistake  to  throw  obstacles  in  the  way  of  worthy 
men  who  are  anxious  to  assume  the  duties  and  obligations  of 
citizenship. 

Tests  for  Naturalization.  —  The  right  of  the  franchise  is 
conferred  by  a  court  of  record,  but  the  examination  is  not  vmi- 
form ;  for  it  depends  upon  the  judge  conducting  it,  and  these 
have  their  Hkes  and  dislikes.  The  door  to  citizenship  is  more 
carefully  guarded  than  ever  before  and  the  guard  has  become 
more  strict  as  the  number  of  immigrants  coming  in  increases 
and  their  assimilation  becomes  more  difficult.  When  the  Irish 
came  into  the  country  in  the  fifties  of  the  last  century  by  the  hun- 

1  "Report  of  Commission  of  Immigration, "  pp.  64  f. 


POLITICS 


255 


dreds  of  thousands,  the  states  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut 
refused  the  right  of  the  franchise  to  all  who  could  not  read  the 
Constitution.  Other  states  in  the  North,  South,  and  West  have 
imposed  a  hterary  test  upon  all  electors,  but  this  has  not  been 
done  in  the  states  where  the  foreigners  are  found  in  large  numbers. 
New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Illinois,  etc.,  where 
thousands  of  illiterate  foreign-born  electors  are  found,  could 
not  enforce  the  literary  test ;  and  a  law  passed  to  that  effect 
in  these  states  would  be  ignored  by  the  politicians,  who  have  a 
way  of  their  own  in  counting  votes.  There  are  many  counties 
in  these  states  where  the  balance  of  power  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
foreign-born,  and  the  men  in  control  of  elections  are  not  very 
particular  if  they  can  capture  the  foreign  vote.  It  is  better  for 
every  community  to  have  the  foreign-speaking  unite  with  the 
family,  as  President  Tyler  put  it,  than  to  have  them  alienated  in 
spirit  and  thought  from  other  members  of  the  municipality. 
Towns  having  large  colonies  of  foreign-born  men  who  have  no 
voice  in  the  regulation  of  affairs  are  practicing  what  every  free- 
born  man  resents  —  taxation  without  representation  ;  if  en- 
trance into  the  rights  of  citizenship  is  made  prohibitive  to  thou- 
sands of  these  men,  then  we  cannot  complain  if  they  remain 
in  America  alien  in  sentiment  and  sympathy.  There  are  wards 
in  our  large  cities  which  are  pocket  wards  —  they  are  carried 
in  the  vest  pocket  of  politicians.  This  is  possible  for  the  reason 
that  they  are  largely  populated  by  foreigners,  some  of  whom 
have  no  voice  in  pohtics,  while  others  have  never  been  trained  in 
American  institutions  and  owe  their  vote  to  the  ward  boss.  It 
is  well  to  safeguard  the  process  of  naturalization,  but  there  ought 
to  be  a  way  for  the  head  of  a  family,  the  owner  of  a  property, 
and  a  man  of  upright  character  and  integrity,  to  come  into  the 
family  although  he  may  not  be  able  to  read  the  Constitution. 

Should  Probation  be  Longer?  —  Many  good  citizens  have 
asked,  should  not  the  period  of  probation  be  extended  to  at 
least  ten  years?  The  question  of  fitness  to  become  a  citizen  is 
not  so  much  a  matter  of  time  as  it  is  of  character.  The  "  un- 
desirables "  in  the  new  immigration  are  not  any  more  numerous 
than  they  were  in  the  old.    When  I  discussed  the  fitness  of 


256 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


Poles  for  naturalization  with  a  Polish  priest,  he  said,  "  The 
Poles  have  fought  for  freedom  and  shed  rivers  of  blood  for 
liberty ;  when  they  come  to  America,  they  find  themselves  in 
perfect  sympathy  with  its  ideals  and  institutions."  No  one 
familiar  yvith.  Polish  history  can  deny  this,  and  yet  many  Ameri- 
cans believe  that  these  men  ought  to  stay  for  ten  years  before 
having  a  chance  to  work  for  the  preservation  of  our  institutions. 
The  Italians  are  old  at  the  game  of  politics.  In  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries,  they  furnished  political  leaders  to 
every  country  in  Europe,  and,  in  the  last  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  this  nation  was  swayed  by  patriotic  ideaUsm  so  that 
its  sons  rallied  arovind  the  standard  of  a  sovereign  leader  and 
forged  out  the  Unks  that  made  imited  Italy.  When  these 
men  come  to  America,  buy  homes,  raise  large  families,  and  knock 
at  the  door  of  citizenship,  is  it  just  to  tell  them  to  wait  for  ten 
years  before  they  can  enter?  It  is  true  that  thousands  of  immi- 
grants were  in  past  years  made  citizens  in  a  slipshod  way. 
Then  courts  were  largely  a  law  to  themselves  and  often  under 
the  sway  of  sinister  politicians.  Under  these  conditions,  it  is 
not  strange  that  thousands  of  aUens  were  given  the  right  of  the 
franchise  illegally ;  but  whose  fault  was  it  ?  ^  Who  were  the 
guardians  of  naturaUzation  ?  The  foreigners  would  never  have 
been  guilty  of  entering  under  false  pretenses  had  it  not  been  for 
native-born  poUticians,  who  marshaled  gullible  immigrants  and 
led  them  through  the  door  of  naturalization  as  sheep  are  led  to 
the  shambles.  At  the  root  of  all  this  question  of  naturaUzation 
lie  the  integrity  and  honesty  of  sworn  officials  of  native  birth 
—  men  sworn  to  do  what  is  best  for  their  state,  but  who  sacri- 

'  The  government  had  sent  out  scores  of  men  to  detect  foreigners  holding  naturali- 
zation papers  illegally.  Never  was  a  greater  wrong  done  man  than  is  done  some  of 
these  innocent  victims.  A  foreigner  in  Pittsburgh  had  exercised  the  right  of  the 
franchise  for  a  generation,  but  some  sleuth  detected  an  irregularity  in  his  naturaU- 
zation process  and  began  proceedings.  The  man's  business  was  threatened  and 
before  he  could  get  the  matter  settled,  it  cost  him  hundreds  of  dollars. 

The  Department  of  Justice,  since  1906,  has  ruled  that  holders  of  illegally  ob- 
tained papers,  who  were  the  victims  of  deception,  and  not  guilty  of  any  design  to 
violate  the  law,  should  not  be  disturbed  unless  evidence  is  advanced  showing  a  pos- 
itive  disqualification  or  an  attempt  to  deceive  the  court. 

See  Report  of  Division  of  Naturalization,  1910,  pp.  9-10. 


POLITICS 


257 


ficed  their  patriotism  and  their  heritage  by  willfully  disregarding 
the  law  regulating  naturaUzation  in  their  anxiety  to  win  in 
the  game  of  pohtics.  This  species  of  politicians  is  not  extinct 
by  any  means,  and  what  will  an  .extension  of  probation  mean 
to  them?  Every  Mediterranean  steamship  which  lands  its 
passengers  on  ElUs  Island  brings  scores  of  Bulgarians  and  Greeks 
fitter  for  the  power  of  the  franchise  than  hundreds  of  English- 
speaking  electors,  who  wait  for  election  day  as  hungry  wolves 
do  for  the  prey.  Adams  County,  Ohio,  has  no  foreigners  in  it, 
and  yet  it  was  honeycombed  with  venal  electors.  Mississippi 
has  as  rich  American  blood  as  any  state  in  the  Union  and  just 
as  much  political  corruption.  The  best  way  to  secure  honest 
foreign-born  electors  is  for  every  native-born  to  resolve  to  be 
honest ;  when  this  is  done,  recourse  to  legislative  schemes  to 
safeguard  the  ballot  from  the  foreigner  will  be  needless. 

The  Foreigners  need  Instruction.  —  The  foreigner  needs  a 
helping  hand  to  become  an  intelligent  voter.  Friendship  and 
sympathy  will  do  much,  but  they  will  not  take  the  place  of 
instruction ;  if  this  man  is  to  make  the  best  of  his  opportunity 
and  become  one  of  the  rulers  of  this  nation,  he  must  be  taught 
how  to  rule.  When  the  wife  of  a  professor  in  New  Haven  asked 
her  Mothers'  Club  how  their  husbands  voted,  the  women  smiled. 
When  she  urged  the  wives  to  answer,  they  said,  "  For  the  man 
who  found  them  a  job  and  gave  them  drink."  Another  for- 
eigner's wife  said  that  her  husband  voted  "  for  the  man  who 
paid  for  the  vote."  It  was  the  professional  politician  who  was 
next  this  man  to  see  that  he  voted  right.  And  why  not? 
Was  not  the  politician  his  friend?  Yes,  he  found  him  work 
and  gave  him  help  when  in  trouble ;  he  got  him  legal  advice 
and  got  his  -svife  into  the  hospital ;  he  stood  the  treats  and  saw 
that  his  children  were  returned  to  school ;  he  got  help  for  them 
from  the  charities  fund,  and  the  widow  he  helped  to  a  means  of 
subsistence ;  when  the  boy  was  arrested,  he  was  the  man  that 
advanced  the  bail  and  got  him  off  "  easy  "  ;  this  pohtician  is  the 
foreigner's  friend  and  counselor,  and  it  would  be  mean  not  to 
vote  for  him.  If  this  manipulator  of  elections  has  a  thousand 
votes  in  his  hand  and  can  throw  them  as  he  thinks  fit,  is  it 


258 


THE  NEW  niMIGRATIOy 


strange?  WTiere  are  the  agents  of  purity  and  righteousness, 
of  justice  and  integrity  ?  Not  among  the  foreigners  ;  they  are 
too  busy  and  too  far  away  to  help.  Yes,  there  are  excepdons. 
I  know  one  Christian  patriot  who  has  taken  the  foreigner  by 
the  hand  and  led  him  to  an  intelligent  conception  of  the  duties 
and  obUgations  of  citizenship.  He  had  a  room,  on  the  walls  of 
which  were  the  pictures  of  the  leading  statesmen  of  America, 
arranged  chronologically,  and  he  took  pains  to  tell  his  foreign- 
bom  friends  something  about  them.  The  aliens  soon  came  to 
know  those  faces,  to  learn  something  of  their  services  and  their 
character  and  feel  that  they  were  their  friends.  He  had  a  map 
of  the  United  States,  and  he  told  the  foreigners  where  these 
men  fought  battles,  some  of  which  they  won  and  others  they 
lost,  but  through  the  ordeal  of  blood  rose  a  nation  that  stands 
in  the  van  of  the  nations  of  the  earth.  He  told  them  how  the 
nation's  territory  extended  from  sea  to  sea  and  which  of  these 
faces  on  the  wall  had  to  do  with  the  expansion  ;  he  told  them  how 
the  railroads  came  and  how  the  wealth  of  farm  and  factory, 
mine  and  mill  increased,  so  that  to-day  America  is  the  richest 
nation  on  the  earth ;  he  took  them  to  the  court  house  ;  he 
brought  the  chief  of  poUce  and  the  mayor,  the  district  attorney 
and  the  judge  to  talk  to  them,  so  that  they  knew  how  the  city 
was  governed  and  how,  link  within  link,  the  municipaUty,  the 
county,  the  state,  and  the  nation,  make  one  great  whole.  Those 
foreigners  went  for  their  examination  and  passed,  and  the  judge 
said  it  was  the  most  satisfactory  examination  he  ever  conducted. 
Is  there  anything  fantastic  in  such  a  plan?  Cannot  it  be 
adopted  in  every  school,  settlement  house,  mission  station, 
parochial  school,  hall,  etc.,  in  communities  where  foreigners 
live  ?  Such  a  plan  would,  in  five  years,  do  more  for  the  assimi- 
lation of  the  foreigner  than  another  fifty  years  of  legislative 
palaver  and  enactment. 

Small  Numbers  Naturalized.  —  There  are  no  fewer  than 
14,500,000  foreign-born  persons  in  the  United  States,  of  whom 
6,500,000  are  males  of  voting  age.  Take  an  equal  number  of 
native-born  persons  and  the  number  of  males  of  voting  age  will 
be  about  half  the  above.    The  immigrant  stream  from  south- 


POLITICS 


259 


eastern  Europe  is  75  per  cent  male  and  the  number  of  adults  is 
about  80  per  cent :  we  import  men  ol  mature  years.  The  num- 
ber of  foreign-born  electors  is  not  more  than  one-third  ol  the 
total  immigrants  of  voting  age,  and  about  16  per  cent  have  taken 
out  their  first  papers.^  There  are  some  nineteen  hundred  courts ^ 
exercising  this  power  to  naturaUze,  but  the  total  number  of  ahens 
made  citizens  under  the  new  law  annually  does  not  exceed  50,000. 
When  we  remember  that  the  number  of  foreign-born  adult  males 
of  voting  age  added  to  our  population  every  year  is  not  less  than 
400,000,  it  needs  no  argument  to  see  that  the  number  of  men  of 
voting  age,  having  no  voice  in  the  government  of  the  country, 
is  multiplying  very  rapidly.  All  immigrants  do  not  knock  at 
the  door  of  citizenship.  Peoples  differ  in  this  respect.  Some 
of  the  most  reluctant  are  the  English.  Among  the  new  immigra- 
tion, the  Poles  and  Lithuanians,  the  Slovaks  and  the  Finns,^ 
show  a  great  desire  to  become  electors.  The  Itahan  and  the 
Greek  are  not  so  eager  to  identify  themselves  with  this  country. 
It  partly  depends  upon  the  length  of  their  stay  in  the  country. 
Italians  who  stay  in  America  ten  or  more  years  are,  as  a  rule, 
citizens.  The  newer  immigrants  from  the  Balkan  States  have 
not  been  in  the  countrj'  long  enough  to  become  citizens  in  any 
large  numbers,  and  it  will  be  some  time  before  they  become  a 
power  in  the  politics  of  any  community.  These  men  have  con- 
siderable difficulty  with  the  new  law.* 

1  Immigration  Commission,  Abstract  of  Report  on  "Immigrants  in  Manufactur- 
ing and  Mining,  p.  208." 

^  The  number  of  State  Courts  and  Federal  Courts  exercising  naturalization 
jurisdiction  during  the  years  specified  are  as  f oUows : 


State  Courts 

Federal  Courts 

1678 

201 

2016 

228 

iQog  

2177 

217 

2247 

227 

1911  

2270 

229 

'  Immigration  Commission,  "  Immigrants  in  Manufacturing  and  Mining,"  p.  208. 
■*  Many  immigrants  from  the  Balkan  States  pay  little  attention  to  the  name  of 
the  ship  in  which  they  come  and  the  date  on  which  they  land.    If,  however, 


26o 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


Some  Foreigners  in  a  Dilemma.  —  Some  of  the  governments 
of  the  old  world  watch  with  jealous  eye  the  naturalization  of 
their  citizens.  Russia  and  Turkey  regard  the  subjects  who 
leave  their  territory  as  Uttle  better  than  deserters.  This  was 
the  attitude  of  Italy  for  a  long  time,  but  of  late  years  that  coun- 
try has  readjusted  its  policy  and  now  does  more  for  its  sons 
across  the  seas  than  any  other  European  government.  Hungary 
and  Greece  keep  a  watchful  eye  over  their  sons,  and  patriotic 
Magyars  and  Greeks  in  America  influence  their  countrymen  to 
retain  their  allegiance  to  the  fatherland.  Some  immigrants 
find  themselves  in  a  dilemma  when  standing  between  two  coun- 
tries. A  young  Magyar  in  New  York  City,  broken  in  health 
and  spirit,  wanted  to  return  to  the  fatherland.  His  trouble  was 
asthma,  contracted  by  working  in  one  of  the  grinding  shops  of 
the  West.  I  said  to  him,  "  A  trip  to  Himgary  may  do  you  good." 
"  Yes,"  was  his  reply,  "  but  I  cannot  return.  I  fled  from  miUtary 
service  when  I  came,  and  if  I  return,  jail  awaits  me."  I  saw  that 
the  boy's  heart  was  on  the  plain  of  the  Danube,  but  he  feared 
incarceration.  There  is  a  barber  in  New  York  City  who  con- 
tinuously speaks  enthusiastically  of  Italy,  but  he  can't  go  to  the 
land  of  his  birth,  because  he  did  not  return  to  the  fatherland 
when  the  government  sent  the  summons  for  him  to  serve  his 
term  as  a  soldier.  It  is  easy  for  a  Pole,  a  Slovak,  a  Lithuanian 
and  a  Finn  to  swear  allegiance  to  America,  for  each  of  these 
cherishes  no  love  for  the  government  that  plays  the  part  of  a 
cruel  stepmother  to  his  people ;  but  it  is  different  with  the  Italian 
and  the  Greek,  the  Bulgarian  and  the  Roumanian.  When  we 
interviewed  a  leading  Greek  editor  about  the  naturalization  of 
his  countrymen,  he  said :  "  We  don't  want  them  naturalized. 
We  don't  want  them  to  leave  Greece.  We  want  ancient  Hellas 
from  the  Turk,  and  the  more  Greeks  who  stay  athome  the  better." 
Each  one  of  the  last  mentioned  nations  has  its  political  program, 
and  is  anxious  to  have  its  subjects  retain  their  allegiance,  in 
order  to  enable  the  fatherland  to  realize  its  aim.  The  native-born 

they  landed  since  June,  1906,  they  must  give  these  details,  else  they  cannot  be 
naturalized.  If  a  son  a  year  old  comes  over  with  his  father  and  the  father  cannot  be 
naturalized,  the  son  when  he  applies  must  remember  the  name  of  the  boat  in  which 
he  came  and  the  date  on  which  he  landed,  else  he  cannot  be  naturalized. 


POLITICS 


261 


American  should  be  broad  enough  to  concede  that  a  man  may  be 
proud  of  his  race,  love  his  mother  tongue,  be  loyal  to  the  faith  of 
his  fathers,  and  yet  be  a  good  American  citizen. 

The  Foreign  Newspaper.  —  The  influence  of  the  foreign 
press  is  considerable  among  the  foreign-speaking,  but  it  cannot 
be  more  relied  upon  to  tell  the  truth  than  that  of  the  average 
newspaper  conducted  by  native-born  editors.  In  New  York 
City,  one  of  the  ablest  Italians  runs  two  papers,  and  in  the  last 
national  campaign,  the  morning  paper  supported  one  party  and 
the  afternoon  the  other.  One  of  the  leading  Italians  in  the  coun- 
try said  that  it  was  generally  understood  that  the  Italian  papers 
were  for  sale  to  the  highest  bidder.  Much  of  the  foreign  press 
in  the  United  States  is  venal,  but  in  this  respect  it  has  had  strik- 
ing examples  in  high  places  among  the  native-born.  Foreign 
newspapers,  however,  sometimes  play  a  twofold  game;  they 
take  the  cash  of  political  aspirants,  plead  their  cause  and  praise 
their  virtues,  and  at  the  same  time  preach  loyalty  to  the  father- 
land and  fidelity  to  their  own  national  issues.  This  constant 
advocacy  of  racial  patriotism  is  one  of  the  most  potent  forces  in 
retarding  the  Americanization  of  the  foreigner.  A  Servian 
priest  in  his  magazine  afl&rms  that  he,  as  a  foreigner,  has  a  per- 
fect right  to  reconstruct  the  social  and  political  life  of  the  United 
States  as  he  thinks  best,  regardless  of  the  past  history  of  the 
country,  and  some  Americans  say  that  he  is  right.  To  all 
foreigners  who  come  up  to  the  standard  of  admission,  America 
bids  welcome,  but  it  is  with  the  understanding  that  they  indorse 
certain  fundamental  institutions  and  customs  which  form  a  part 
of  the  very  life  of  the  nation.  Any  immigrant  out  of  sym- 
pathy with  these  had  better  seek  another  country,  for  the  United 
States  is  not  the  place  for  him.  Most  foreign  newspapers  are  in 
sympathy  with  America,  and  many  foreign-speaking  editors  are 
rendering  as  loyal  service  to  their  adopted  country  as  any  patri- 
otic newspaper  run  by  native-born  men.    They  feel  that  racial 

*  If  the  suggestion  of  the  Federal  Immigration  Commission,  that  the  man  who 
advocates  the  foreign-born  in  America  to  be  loyal  to  their  native  country  and  not 
become  citizens  of  the  United  States  be  deported,  ever  becomes  a  law,  the  editors 
of  foreign  newspapers  will  be  cured  of  this  duplicity. 


262 


TEE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


patriotism  is  out  of  place  in  America,  that  their  people  ought  to 
learn  English  as  soon  as  possible,  that  they  should  acquire  the 
right  of  the  franchise  as  quickly  as  possible,  and  that  those  who 
miss  these  opportunities  stand  in  their  own  light. 

The  Saloon  in  Politics.  —  More  powerful  than  the  news- 
paper in  the  pohtical  life  of  the  citizens  of  the  new  immigration 
is  the  saloon.  There  is  hardly  a  drinking  place  in  a  foreign 
colony  which  does  not  have,  around  election  time,  its  pohtical 
club  which  is  in  touch  with  some  political  satellite.  The  vote  is 
known  to  the  pohtician  and,  when  election  day  comes,  he  sees 
that  the  men  are  brought  to  the  polls,  each  of  whom  he  calls  by 
name.  Of  course,  the  saloons  are  supposed  to  be  closed  on 
election  day,  but  the  beer  flows  all  the  same.  In  an  election,  a 
notice  was  sent  by  the  chief  of  police  to  each  saloon-keeper  in 
East  St.  Louis,  that  his  place  of  business  was  to  be  closed  on 
election  daj'.  Each  of  these  men  posted  the  notice  on  the  mirror 
back  of  the  bar,  made  fun  of  it,  and  kept  wide  open.  The  vast 
majority  of  foreign-speaking  men  get  their  first  lessons  in  Ameri- 
can politics  in  these  saloons,  at  the  hands  of  ward  heelers.  The 
foreign  voter  is  magnified,  treated,  and  often  taken  to  the  poll 
in  a  carriage  or  an  automobile.  All  this  is  done  from  selfish 
motives  and  gives  the  foreign-speaking  voter  a  wrong  idea  of  the 
relation  he  holds  to  the  municipal,  state,  and  national  govern- 
ment. Conditions  would  be  far  more  serious  if  the  various 
nationalities  in  our  communities  would  be  a  vmit  in  the  hands  of 
designing  men.  Racial  antagonism  enters  into  the  pohtical  as 
well  as  the  social  life  of  the  foreigner.  The  Slovak  and  Magyar, 
the  Italian  and  the  Austrian  will  seldom  vote  the  same  ticket  if 
they  can  help  it.  The  local  politician,  however,  knows  these 
prejudices  and  is  clever  at  devising  means  to  meet  the  situation. 

Foreign-bom  Voters  will  follow  Leaders.  —  Many  native-born 
electors,  standing  at  the  polls  on  election  day  and  watching  the 
foreigners  vote,  have  felt  as  a  friend  of  mine  did,  who  said, 
"  That  man's  vote  makes  mine  of  no  effect."  It  must  be  so  in  a 
democracy.  The  people  rule  and  the  most  ignorant  foreigner, 
if  given  the  power  of  the  ballot,  is  liable  to  make  the  vote  of  the 
best  citizen  in  the  land  of  no  effect.    This  makes  it  the  more 


POLITICS 


imperative  to  establish  means  by  which  the  foreigner  may  be 
enlightened  as  to  the  importance  of  the  sovereign  power  con- 
ferred upon  him ;  thousands  of  them  appreciate  the  privilege 
and  are  capable  of  instruction.  It  is  our  duty  to  give  the  for- 
eigner the  light  and,  with  a  quickened  social  conscience,  he  will 
cast  his  ballot  according  to  the  light  that  is  m  him.  The  for- 
eign vote,  when  in  the  hand  of  the  professional  politician,  is 
often  undisturbed,  for  no  one  has  questioned  his  right  to  it. 
Every  foreign  colony  is  boss  ridden  Elections  are  often  farces, 
and  the  vote  is  the  dictum  of  the  poUtical  boss.  It  is  a  mistake 
to  believe  that  the  foreigner  will  not  respond  to  better  teaching. 
The  Jews,  when  trained  in  the  rights  of  citizens,  break  loose  from 
the  power  of  the  boss.  The  Poles  and  the  Slovaks  have  shown 
like  tendencies  to  assert  their  independence,  and  the  same  will 
be  true  of  other  nationalities  if  they  are  shown  the  importance  of 
the  ballot  and  the  obligations  resting  upon  electors  in  a  democ- 
racy to  rule  wisely  the  affairs  of  the  nation. 

Wise  Leaders  do  good  Work.  —  Here  again  the  need  of 
the  hour  is  self-sacrificing  leaders  of  native  birth  —  men  who  are 
wiUing  to  teach  and  help  the  foreign-born  voter  to  understand  his 
right  relation  to  this  democracy.  The  Daughters  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution  in  the  state  of  Connecticut  have  rendered  an 
excellent  piece  of  service,  by  issuing  a  "  Guide  to  Italian 
Immigrants  to  the  United  States,"  edited  by  John  Foster  Carr.^ 
It  contains  all  that  an  immigrant  needs  to  know  in  order  to  be- 
come an  intelligent  citizen  of  the  republic.  A.  A.  Paryski,  of 
Toledo,  has  rendered  equally  valuable  service  to  the  Poles. 
Others  have  done  equally  good  service  to  other  peoples.  Efforts 
of  this  character,  made  in  behalf  of  all  nationalities,  should  be 
encouraged  and  aided.  The  light  of  this  glorious  democracy 
should  be  made  to  shine  into  the  lives  of  men  who  have  not  known 
what  it  is  to  be  a  responsible  citizen  of  a  great  republic.  In 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  a  successful  work  has  been  carried  on  among 
the  foreigners  for  the  last  four  years,  and  representatives  of 
seven  different  nationalities  are  wont  to  meet  for  the  purpose  of 

'  Doubleday,  Page  &  Co.,  N.Y.  This  Guide  is  now  published  in  Polish,  Yiddish, 
and  English,  and  will  soon  be  issued  in  other  foreign  tongues. 


264 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


hearing  illustrated  talks  on  America  and  its  institutions.  The 
secretary  of  the  branch  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution in  that  city  came  to  one  of  these  meetings  and  in  the 
name  of  the  order  presented  the  men  vi-ith  a  silk  flag — the  stars 
and  stripes.  I  wish  every  American  who  does  not  believe  in  the 
possibility  of  making  of  the  foreigner  a  loyal  American  citizen 
were  in  that  meeting  and  could  see  how  these  men  acted  and  how 
they  sang  "America."  It  was  the  most  touching  scene  that 
Daughter  of  the  American  Revolution  ever  saw,  and  the  native- 
born  men  who  were  present  have  come  to  beheve  that  the  menace 
to  American  institutions  is  not  half  so  great  from  the  foreigners 
as  it  is  from  the  native-born,  whose  indifference  to  and  ignorance 
of  the  welfare  of  their  covmtry  are  httle  less  than  criminal. 

Last  Memorial  Day,  in  Wilmerding,  Pa.,  Rev.  Miloje\'ich, 
the  Servian  Orthodox  priest,  was  asked  to  address  his  people, 
who  had  assembled  in  the  cemetery  to  honor  the  heroes  of  the 
Civil  War.  The  priest  spoke  and  closed  his  address  vidth  the 
words :  "  I  deem  it  my  holiest  duty  to  kiss  the  consecrated 
ground  upon  which  your  heroic  ancestors  shed  their  blood,  and 
in  which  their  bones  are  laid  to  rest.  I  deem  it  my  Christian 
duty  to  offer  God  a  prayer  for  the  repose  of  their  souls,  just  as  if 
they  were  my  own  blood."  Then  he  kneeled,  kissed  the  groimd, 
and  offered  a  prayer  for  the  repose  of  those  who  died  for  the 
Union.  As  soon  as  he  knelt,  all  hats  were  raised.  All  men  in 
uniform  knelt.  As  he  arose  he  said,  "  Glory  to  the  dead  soldiers 
and  prosperity  to  the  American  people."  That  man  had  in  him 
the  true  American  spirit,  and  he  represents  a  large  class  among 
the  foreign-born  in  the  United  States.  We  will  do  well  to  con- 
sider this  and  de\'ise  some  means  by  which  all  foreigners  having 
the  fire  of  patriotism  for  the  Union  kindled  in  their  breast  can 
be  brought  into  the  family  and  share  with  us  the  destinies  of  our 
beloved  country. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 


RECREATION 

There  is  one  characteristic  which  differentiates  Americans  at 
play  from  the  people  of  southeastern  Europe  on  pleasure  bent : 
it  is  the  intensity  with  which  the  native-born  throw  themselves 
into  their  games.  There  does  not  seem  to  be  any  relaxation  in 
the  amusement  of  our  people  ;  the  tension  before  mentioned,  which 
characterizes  labor  in  the  United  States,  is  also  carried  into  the 
pleasures  which  are  enjoyed.  The  Italians  play  a  ball  game  and 
they  enjoy  themselves  in  a  leisurely  manner.  They  smoke, 
chat,  laugh,  and  stroll  along  quietly  and  without  haste  after  the 
balls ;  but  a  ball  game  among  the  native-born  is  "no  good  " 
imless  the  field  rings  with  shouts  and  the  players  exert  themselves 
to  the  utmost.  A  game  of  cards  played  on  the  lawn  of  a  summer's 
evening  by  a  group  of  Slavs  is  enjoyed  by  each  of  the  players ; 
they  chat,  smoke  cigarettes,  and  possibly  have  a  bottle  of  beer  to 
pass  around  ;  but  a  game  of  cards  on  a  railroad  car  among  Ameri- 
cans is  a  serious  thing  ;  the  players  seldom  smoke,  they  are  quiet 
or  swearing,  they  study  their  hands  very  seriously,  and  the 
whole  performance  appears  as  if  much  depended  on  the  game 
then  going  on.  The  same  is  true  of  the  dance ;  the  foreigners 
move  leisurely,  they  smoke  and  chat,  they  have  a  good  time  in  a 
pleasant  way  ;  but  the  American  dance  hall  is  not  up  to  the  stand- 
ard, unless  the  pace  on  the  floor  is  exhilarating,  the  whirl 
exciting,  men  and  women  in  perspiration,  and  the  dancers  so 
exhausted  that  they  are  glad  to  find  a  seat  to  rest  themselves. 

A  Professor  of  Relaxation.  —  In  one  of  the  summer  con- 
ferences in  the  Middle  West,  a  professor  was  hired  to  teach  the 
five  himdred  students  assembled  how  to  pursue  pleasure  and  find 
relaxation  from  the  strain  of  life.  That  man  has  a  message  that 
is  worth  while.    It  was  pleasant  to  watch  him  performing  his  part 

265 


266 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


in  that  summer  school.  He  knew  a  number  of  simple  dances  and 
knew  how  to  teach  them.  The  movements  of  hand  and  foot 
were  graceful  and  gentle,  the  body  bent  in  a  quiet  manner,  the 
music  was  far  from  exciting,  and  there  were  no  shouts  and 
excitement.  I  asked  the  professor,  "  Where  did  you  get  these 
dances  ?"  His  reply  was,  "From  the  peoples  of  Europe."  Most 
of  them  were  taken  from  the  Romance  nations  and  a  few  from 
the  Slavic.  When  the  professor  was  asked,  "  What  is  the 
use  of  these  simple  dances  in  the  lives  of  Americans?"  his  reply 
was,  "To  teach  them  relaxation."  And  continuing,  he  added: 
"  Americans  lead  too  intense  a  life  and  a  series  of  diseases  have 
come  upon  us  as  a  penalty.  What  I  try  to  do  is  to  teach  them 
how  to  relax  the  muscles,  take  life  less  seriously,  and  spend  some 
time  in  practicing  graceful  and  rhythmic  movements  that  will 
relieve  the  nerves  and  muscles  from  strain  and  stress  and  give 
them  rest."  Success  to  the  "  professor  of  relaxation  "  and  his 
five  hundred  pupils  —  they  will  do  us  all  good,  providing  the  spirit 
of  the  Puritan  does  not  disturb  their  rhythmic  movements. 

Some  Oriental  Blood.  —  The  peoples  of  the  new  immigra- 
tion have  in  their  veins,  as  before  stated,  much  Oriental  blood, 
which  more  than  anything  else  accounts  for  the  ease  and  grace 
with  which  they  take  their  pleasures.  A  group  of  Syrians  in 
Detroit  met  in  a  settlement  house  to  study  the  English  language. 
After  the  meeting  in  which  they  took  part,  some  of  us  went  to  the 
secretary's  office  for  a  chat.  We  were  not  there  long  before  the 
strains  of  weird  music  came  from  the  adjoining  room.  We 
asked,  "What's  the  music?"  The  secretary  replied,  "The 
Syrians  are  having  a  little  dance."  We  went  to  witness  the  per- 
formance. On  a  chair  sat  one  of  the  company  playing  on  a 
pipe-like  musical  instrument,  very  much  lilce  the  Scottish  pipes 
minus  the  bag  ;  the  other  members  of  the  group  accompanied  the 
music  by  simple  and  graceful  movements  of  limb  and  body. 
These  people  were  not  votaries  of  the  intensive  life  ;  they  came 
from  a  country  where  men  take  things  more  leisurely  than  we  do. 
In  the  Balkans,  whence  we  get  many  of  our  recent  immigrants, 
the  East  and  the  West  meet,  and  the  Roumanians  and  Bulga- 
rians, the  Serbs  and  the  Croats  are  peoples  who  will  enjoy  life 


RECREATION 


267 


if  they  have  the  opportunity.  The  Oriental  spirit  is  also  strong 
in  the  Greeks  and  southern  Italians,  whose  lands  have  been 
subjected  to  invasion  after  invasion  from  the  East,  and  it  shows 
itself  in  the  manner  they  can  enjoy  themselves  in  festas  and 
simple  performances.  The  Magyar  and  the  Russian  are  happy 
although  their  possessions  are  few.  Louis  H.  Pink,  speaking  of 
the  Magyars  in  New  York  City,  says:  "  The  Magyar  is  easy- 
going and  pleasure  loving  above  all  the  people  who  seek  our  shores. 

.  .  .  The  life  of  the  [Magyar]  quarter  is  one  continuous  whirl 
of  excitement.  Pleasure  seems  the  chief  end,  and  danc- 
ing, music,  cards,  and  lounging  at  the  cafe  are  the  means  of 
attaining  it."  ^  One  of  the  happiest  crowds  I  ever  saw  in  an 
immigrant  colony  in  America  was  a  group  of  Jews  in  the 
city  of  Boston.  They  sang,  they  danced,  smoked,  and  drank 
—  all  done  within  moderation,  but  in  a  spirit  of  ease  and  relaxa- 
tion that  was  a  delight.  The  United  States  has  recently  received 
millions  of  these  people,  in  whose  veins  is  a  strong  mixture  of 
Oriental  blood,  and  this,  when  put  in  the  crucible,  will,  more 
than  the  efforts  of  the  "  professor  of  relaxation,"  quiet  down 
the  nerves  of  the  American  of  to-morrow. 

Holy  Days  and  Festal  Days.  —  The  amusements  of  the  new 
inmigrants  largely  revolve  around  religious  festivals  and  cere- 
monies. The  Slavs  and  the  Lithuanians  will  not  work  on  the 
great  festivals  of  the  church,  but  they  will  on  these  days  plan  a 
dance  and  have  a  good  time.  In  every  foreign  colony  dance 
halls  are  found  and  they  are  well  used  by  the  people.  Priests 
invariably  complain  that  Bacchus  and  Venus  are  more  highly 
honored  on  church  holidays  than  the  saint  whose  memory  the 
church  tries  to  preserve.  On  these  holy  days  the  Slav  and  the 
Lithuanian,  the  Magyar  and  the  Roumanian  cannot  enjoy 
themselves  without  the  accompaniment  of  drink.  Many  of 
these  peoples,  in  the  fisheries  on  the  coast,  as  well  as  on  ore  docks 
on  the  lakes,  have  a  good  time  by  getting  drunk.  In  the  town  of 
Fairport,  rum  is  shut  out,  but  "  blind  tigers  "  take  the  place  of 
saloons,  and  "  barrels  of  sugar  "  are  very  frequently  delivered  to 
the  foreign-speaking  boarding  bosses.  This  appetite  for  strong 
>  The  New  York  Survey,  Dec.  3,  1904. 


268 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


drink  makes  the  boarding  house  a  popular  resort  and  a  place 
where  much  enjoyment  is  found.  When  a  law  was  passed  in 
South  Omaha  to  close  all  saloons  at  eight  o'clock,  many  boarding 
houses  became  the  rendezvous  of  foreigners.  They  took  the 
place  of  the  beer  dens.  Workingmen  drink  at  night,  and  it  is 
after  eight  o'clock  that  the  glasses  generally  begin  to  rattle.  One 
of  the  liveliest  places  I  ever  saw  was  in  St.  Louis,  in  a  Slav  boarding 
house,  in  which  a  skilled  player  manipulated  a  string  xylo- 
phone. The  place  was  crowded  and  the  men  thoroughly  enjoyed 
the  music.  In  the  dances  so  common  among  the  Slavs,  drink 
is  always  an  accompaniment.  After  a  Bohemian  dance  in 
Omaha,  some  of  the  men  boasted  how  many  drinks  they  had 
—  it  was  a  part  of  the  enjoyment  of  the  evening.  It  is 
nothing  unusual  for  Slavs  to  introduce  the  dance  in  the  camp 
on  Sunday  to  while  away  the  time.  A  district  superintendent 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  in  Ohio,  having  occasion 
to  pass  a  construction  camp  a  Uttle  out  of  the  city  of  New 
Castle,  Pa.,  invariably  heard  the  accordion  playing  and  saw 
the  men  dancing.  In  South  Omaha,  where  the  majority  of 
the  people  are  foreign-born,  there  are  nine  dance  halls,  four- 
teen pool  rooms,  and  twenty  out  of  the  eighty  saloons  had 
pool  tables.  These  means  of  enjoyment  were  almost  wholly 
patronized  by  the  foreigners. 

Weddings  and  Christenings.  —  The  foreigners  also  have  a 
good  time  at  weddings  and  christenings.  Some  of  the  students 
of  Lehigh  University  were  in  the  habit  of  teaching  classes  of 
foreigners  in  South  Bethlehem,  and  one  evening  they  heard 
music  and  dancing  in  the  German  hall.  They  peeped  in  and 
found  a  Magyar  wedding  being  celebrated.  The  bride  happened 
to  be  near  the  door  when  they  looked  in  and  she  gave  them  a 
cordial  invitation  to  come  and  join  the  celebration.  All  the 
peoples  of  southeastern  Europe  are  in  the  habit  of  celebrating 
weddings.  When  we  attended  a  Roumanian  wedding  at  the 
invitation  of  the  bridegroom,  we  found  the  hall  well  filled  with 
gay  company,  all  drinking  and  smoking  and  many  of  them  danc- 
ing. A  Hungarian  stringed  band,  hired  for  the  occasion,  fur- 
nished the  music.    All  the  men  and  women  present  seemed  to  be 


RECREA  TION 


269 


thoroughly  enjoying  themselves  and  none  were  under  the  influ- 
ence of  drink.  Some  of  these  festivals  are  disturbed  by  the 
intrusion  of  uninvited  guests,  but  the  police  ofhcers  in  most  cities, 
after  some  serious  experiences,  understand  the  situation  and 
furnish  an  oflBicer  to  watch  over  the  proceedings  or  be  within  call. 
In  the  city  of  Hartford,  the  chief  of  police  told  me  that  the  Poles 
invariably  hire  a  special  officer  when  a  wedding  is  to  be  cele- 
brated. The  police  authorities  in  many  cities  also  insist  that 
dancing  shall  cease  at  midnight.  The  weddings  among  Poles 
and  Magyars  generally  begin  Friday  and  last  till  the  following 
Monday.  A  joyous  time  is  also  had  at  christenings.  Here  the 
festivities  do  not  last  as  long  as  in  weddings,  but  drink  forms 
a  part  of  the  celebration.  Rev.  A.  Kaupas,  speaking  of  his 
countrymen,  the  Lithuanians,  says :  "  No  wedding  or  christen- 
ing is  imaginable  without  intoxicants.  .  .  .  The  success  or 
failure  of  a  ball,  picnic,  or  even  church  fair,  is  measured  not 
by  the  attendance,  but  by  the  number  of  emptied  beer  kegs." 
P.  V.  Rovnianek  says  of  the  Slovaks,  "  It  has  been  the  custom 
among  Slavic  peoples  for  hundreds  of  years  to  celebrate  events, 
such  as  weddings  or  christenings,  with  the  greatest  festivity." 
These  occasions  play  a  much  greater  part  in  the  pleasure  life  of 
the  Slavs  and  Magyars  than  they  do  in  that  of  Anglo-Sa.xons,  and 
the  chief  objection  to  these  sources  of  enjoyment  is  the  excessive 
drinking  connected  with  them. 

The  Saloon  a  Social  Center.  —  It  is  often  said  that  the  saloon 
is  the  poor  man's  club,  but  no  people  in  the  United  States  find 
it  more  so  than  the  men  of  the  new  immigration.  The  saloons 
catering  to  the  trade  of  the  Slav,  Lithuanian,  and  Magyar  are 
well  patronized.  They  like  their  drink,  and  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  foreigners  find  in  saloons  and  the  conviviality  associated 
with  them  their  chief  source  of  pleasure.  Some  of  the  priests 
ministering  to  these  peoples  say  that  the  habit  of  finding  "  in 
beer  washed  down  with  whisky  "  the  chief  source  of  pleasure 
is  diminishing.  Every  assurance  of  improvement  in  this  regard 
is  welcomed,  but  to  the  generality  of  these  peoples  the  drink 
habit  still  furnishes  the  chief  source  of  enjoyment,  and,  from 
present  indication,  it  will  long  continue  to  do  so.    If  the  traffic 


270 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


were  rationally  regulated,  and  decent  places  provided  in  which 
these  people  could  meet  and  enjoy  their  social  glass,  there  would 
be  greater  hope  of  reform.  Connected  with  many  of  the  saloons, 
also,  are  men  who  furnish  music  and  dancing.  These  attrac- 
tions do  not  help  the  patrons  and  there  is  reason  to  beheve  that 
their  elimination  would  help  in  the  cause  of  temperance  among 
the  foreigners.  Thousands  of  saloons  in  foreign-speaking  com- 
munities are  little  more  than  beer  dens ;  they  brutalize  Slav 
and  Lithuanian,  but  the  situation  will  not  be  improved  by  driv- 
ing these  out  of  business  by  the  power  of  the  law,  unless  some- 
thing is  offered  as  a  substitute.  To  expect  these  people  to  give 
up  drinking,  which  plays  so  important  a  part  in  their  social  life, 
is  unreasonable  ;  the  custom  is  bad,  but  the  good  people  who  de- 
cry it  viiU  serve  the  cause  of  reform  far  better  by  advancing  a 
practical  and  sane  plan  to  meet  this  need  of  a  socially  inclined 
people,  rather  than  bUndly  condemn  them  in  their  quest  for 
diversion  and  relaxation. 

Italians  and  Gambling.  —  Drink,  as  before  stated,  is  not  a 
temptation  to  the  Italian  and  the  Greek,  the  Bulgarian  and  the 
Roumanian,  the  Albanian  and  the  Turk.  These  peoples  are  not 
given  to  intoxication.  Each  of  them  vnW  take  a  social  glass,  but 
they  do  not  take  such  pleasure  in  their  cups  as  do  the  Slavs  and 
Magyars.  The  ItaUans  have  their  saloons,  and  some  drunkards 
are  found  among  them,  but  this  is  the  exception.  The  spirit  La 
the  Italian  saloon  is  very  different  from  that  dominating  a  Slavic 
one.  The  patrons  drink  more  moderately,  light  wines  and  not 
whisky  are  used,  and  games  of  chance  are  more  common.  The 
game  "  Mora  "  is  played  with  great  zeal  by  Italians,  an>d  the 
drinks  go  to  the  winner.  This  is  the  occasion  of  quarrels,  fights, 
and  litigation,  but  the  quarrels  due  to  booze  in  the  Lives  of 
Italians  are  nothing  as  compared  with  those  due  to  this  cause 
among  Slavs,  Magyars,  and  Lithuanians.  The  ItaUan,  however, 
is  a  born  gambler  and  finds  great  pleasure  in  games  of  chance. 
Italy  raises  a  part  of  its  revenue  by  lottery,^  and  the  gambling 

1 "  The  game  which  has  been  indicated  as  so  pernicious,  one,  however,  li- 
censed by  the  State,  to  which  it  yields  a  considerable  revenue,  is  the  lottery, 
which  is  an  affair  of  every  day  as  in  Austria.    Every  one  in  Italy,  old  and 


RECREATION 


271 


spirit  pervades  the  country,  fostered  by  governmental  appliances 
and  opportunities.  When  the  Italian  comes  to  America,  he  can- 
not throw  off  the  insidious  fascination  of  risking  his  money  in  hope 
of  getting  something  for  nothing.  A  young  Italian,  Jim,  in  New 
York  City,  had  been  in  the  country  thirteen  years.  He  worked 
hard  the  first  few  years  of  his  life  in  the  new  world,  saved  enough 
money  to  buy  a  horse  and  wagon,  and  then  went  into  the  business 
of  peddling.  He  prospered,  saved  money,  and  had  a  bank  ac- 
count of  $2500.  One  day  the  passion  for  gambling  got  the  best  of 
his  judgment  and,  drawing  the  money  from  the  bank,  —  the  re- 
sult of  eleven  years  of  saving, — he  with  a  friend  went  to  Bel- 
mont Park  to  bet  on  the  races,  and  came  home  penniless. 

Greek  Enjoyments.  —  The  Greek  frequents  saloons  run  by 
his  countrymen,  but  he  is  moderate  in  his  drinking.  In  one  of 
these  places  in  Kansas  City,  a  platform  was  erected  in  the  rear 
of  the  main  room,  on  which  sat  two  young  women  with  tam- 
bourines. These  yovmg  girls  wore  short  skirts  and  their  danc- 
ing attracted  the  men  to  that  place.  But  the  Greek  is  a  better 
patron  of  the  cafe  than  of  the  saloon.  In  one  of  the  cafes  in  the 
above  city,  more  than  sixty  men  were  present  smoking  and 
drinking,  and  in  the  farther  end  of  this  room,  two  men  performed 
the  Grecian  dance  to  the  amusement  of  the  spectators.  Each 
held  to  the  end  of  a  short  but  strong  piece  of  canvas,  and  the 
art  was  to  go  through  the  various  movements,  keeping  time  with 
the  music,  twisting  and  turning  in  many  directions,  and  not  let 
go  of  the  canvas.  It  was  innocent  fun,  and  the  skill  and  agility 
of  the  men  during  the  performance  were  admirable.  In  Omaha, 
we  attended  a  Greek  moving  picture  show,  witnessed  by  at  least 
one  hundred  and  fifty  Greeks.  It  took  place  in  a  cafe,  which  was 
a  combination  of  restaurant,  barber  shop,  pool  room,  saloon, 
boarding  house,  and  theater.  No  admission  was  charged.  In 
the  rear  of  the  room  was  a  canvas  on  which  were  painted  scenes 
suggestive  of  the  play  that  was  to  be  given  that  evening.  Above 
these  figures,  about  seven  feet  from  the  floor,  was  a  white  sheet 
about  three  feet  wide,  stretched  across  the  room,  back  of  which 

young,  man  and  woman,  joins  in  this  if  they  have  a  halfpenny  to  stake,  and 
there  is  a  drawing  every  week."    "  Italy,"  by  H.  A.  Nesbitt,  M.  A.,  p.  133. 


272 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


shone  the  lights.  The  marionettes,  handled  by  the  performer 
back  of  the  screen,  were  reflected  on  this  canvas  and  illustrated 
the  words  of  the  speaker.  During  the  performance,  waiters 
passed  to  and  fro  serving  refreshments,  such  as  candies,  wines, 
coffee,  cigarettes,  etc.,  to  the  men  sitting  around  the  small 
tables.  The  play  that  night  described  the  actions  of  two  Greek 
brothers,  whose  sister  had  been  kidnaped  by  some  Turkish 
officers ;  the  plot  was  the  recovery  of  the  sister  and  the  punish- 
ment of  the  Turks.  The  figure  of  the  woman,  the  armed  Turks, 
and  the  armed  Greeks  appeared  on  the  scene  moving  to  and  fro, 
gesticulating,  fighting,  fleeing,  singing,  and  dancing.  The  speaker 
was  exceedingly  clever ;  he  spoke  in  a  dozen  different  voices, 
sang,  imitated  the  dance,  and  kept  the  audience  in  good  humor 
for  two  hours  and  a  half.  When  the  performance  was  about 
half  through,  the  actor  came  out,  passed  around  the  hat,  and 
every  one  put  in  what  he  thought  fit  —  that  was  the  compensa- 
tion of  the  performer.  Everything  was  in  perfect  order,  it  was 
a  night  of  enjoyment,  and  the  Greeks  seemed  to  be  delighted. 
That  player  had  a  dozen  or  more  performances,  the  program 
was  changed  each  night,  —  Sunday  included,  —  and  when  the 
course  was  through,  he  moved  on  to  another  city  where  Greeks 
resided  in  large  numbers,  made  arrangements  with  the  cafe  pro- 
prietor, and  put  up  his  show.  This  moving  picture  show  of  the 
Greeks  is  not  as  elaborate  as  some  marionette  shows  among  the 
Italians,  but  the  enjoyment  of  the  spectators  and  the  cleverness 
of  the  performance  are  equal  to  those  of  a  more  pretentious 
entertainment. 

Greek  Wrestlers.  —  Many  Greeks  and  Macedonians  are  fond 
of  wrestling  and  boxing.  Whenever  these  young  men  come  to  a 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  in  a  large  city,  they  patron- 
ize most  earnestly  the  gymnasium  and  the  swimming  pool.  In 
the  cities  of  Kansas  City  and  Omaha,  many  young  Greeks  have 
attained  a  degree  of  proficiency  in  boxing  and  wrestling,  so  that 
meets  are  arranged  during  the  winter  season  for  the  purpose  of 
exhibiting  their  skill,  and  the  audiences  are  generally  large.  I 
met  one  of  these  young  men  and  asked  him,  "  Do  you  enjoy 
wrestling  and  boxing?"    "Sure,"  he  said,  "and  we  make 


RECREATION 


273 


money."  The  meets  are  well  patronized  by  the  Greeks  as  well 
as  by  Macedonians  and  Bulgarians. 

Foreigners  fond  of  Music.  —  All  the  foreigners  from  south- 
eastern Europe  are  musical.  A  large  percentage  of  Italians  can 
play  some  kind  of  musical  instrument.  Italy  is  the  home  of 
music.  There  is  hardly  a  town  in  the  country  which  does  not 
make  an  appropriation  for  the  Commune  Band  which  plays  for 
the  people's  amusement  on  Sundays  and  holidays.  The  Rouma- 
nians and  Bulgarians  maintain  a  larger  number  of  musicians  and 
players,  according  to  their  population,  than  any  other  people  in 
Europe.  While  in  Dayton,  Ohio,  we  visited  a  house  where  some 
Turks  stayed.  A  Jewish  lad,  about,  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
with  a  guitar,  was  there  discoursing  music — a  peculiar,  rushing, 
exciting  melody,  that  reminded  one  of  a  sudden  tempest  which 
goes  out  in  a  sweet  calm.  The  Magyars  are  full  of  music.  When 
we  attended  a  meeting  in  a  Magyar  hall,  two  bands  had  come  to- 
gether for  the  occasion,  each  playing  its  best  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  three  hundred  souls  present.  In  Philadelphia,  the  Letts  and 
Lithuanians  gave  a  concert,  and  on  that  occasion  a  mixed  choir 
of  sixty  voices  sang  some  of  the  plaintive  airs  of  the  homeland. 
In  the  city  of  Pittsburgh,  a  meet  of  the  various  foreign-speaking 
bands  in  the  Pittsburgh  district  was  arranged ;  they  came  to 
play  their  best  for  prizes  put  up  by  friends  of  the  foreigners,  and 
the  prize  winners  went  home  happy  with  their  trophies.  Foreign- 
born  musicians  form  a  good  percentage  of  the  players  in  the 
bands  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States.  One  of  the 
bands  is  wholly  made  up  of  FiHpinos.  From  the  opera  house 
down  to  the  hotel  and  tavern,  which  have  their  musical  players, 
the  foreign-born  form  a  large  percentage  of  the  men  and  women 
who  entertain  the  music-loving  public  of  America.  There  are 
industrial  plants  which  would  be  wholly  disorganized  if  the 
foreign-speaking  workers  were  taken  out  of  them,  and  the  same 
was  true  of  the  musicians  playing  in  a  symphony  concert  given 
in  one  of  the  largest  cities  of  New  England.  A  native-born 
lover  of  music,  and  a  master  in  the  art,  set  to  work  in  a  New 
England  town  to  give  a  series  of  concerts,  for  the  purpose  of 
cultivating  the  taste  of  his  countrymen  in  that  city.    He  chose 


274 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


the  works  of  Bach,  Wagner,  Mozart,  etc.,  and  was  surprised  to 
find  that  the  foreigners  of  the  town  enjoyed  and  appreciated  the 
performances  more  than  the  native-born.  Any  one  acquainted 
with  the  men  and  women  of  the  new  immigration  knows  that 
their  love  of  music  is  greater  than  that  of  Americans,  but  if  noth- 
ing more  is  done  to  preserve  it  than  at  present,  it  is  likely  to  pass 
away  -with  the  first  generation. 

Music  has  Charms.  —  In  a  labor  camp  in  Ohio,  where  one 
hundred  and  fifty  Italians  worked,  it  occurred  to  an  old  veteran  of 
the  Civil  War  that  he  could  do  something  for  these  men.  He 
had  a  phonograph  and  a  few  Italian  selections  —  Caruso's  and 
Tetrazzini's  and  some  ItaUan  popular  airs.  He  went  to  the 
quarry  and  visited  the  bunk  houses,  which  had  been  dubbed  by  the 
good  people  of  the  neighboring  town  as  "  httle  hell."  He  set  that 
phonograph  going,  and  the  Italians  came  around  him  and  listened. 
Frank  Smith  saw  no  "  hell,"  but  he  saw  radiant  faces  and  appre- 
ciative souls ;  he  was  greeted  by  warm  hearts  thankful  for  this 
ray  of  sunshine  which  he  brought ;  he  was  pressed  to  come  again 
and  give  them  something  to  think  of  besides  work  and  sleep. 
The  music  opened  the  camp,  and  this  old  veteran  won  one  of  his 
most  glorious  battles  when  he  brought  that  group  of  Italians 
into  greater  sympathy  with  America  and  Americans  by  the  power 
of  song.  WTien  Chicago  imported  a  Bohemian  player  of  inter- 
national reputation,  he  did  not  play  his  best  in  the  opera  house, 
where  wealth  and  fashion  were  at  their  height ;  he  was  at  his 
best  in  the  Bohemian  Club  in  the  heart  of  Bohemia  in  Chicago, 
where  the  spirit  of  his  race  inspired  him  and  the  voices  of  his 
countrymen  burst  forth  in  mielody,  singing  the  songs  that  told 
of  the  struggles,  the  triumphs,  and  the  sufferings  of  a  strong 
nation.  What  a  blessing  would  be  conferred  upon  txtvy  one 
of  these  music-loving  people,  if  a  music  hall  were  built  in  every 
foreign  colony,  where  the  songs  of  the  peoples  of  the  old  world 
could  be  sung.  Some  friends  of  the  foreigners  have  rendered 
good  service  to  the  nation  by  arranging  exhibitions  of  folk 
dances,  but  I  am  convinced  that  a  better  service  is  yet  to  be 
rendered  the  nation, by  arranging  for  an  exhibition  of  the  m.usic  of 
the  nations,  sung  and  played  by  men  and  women  whose  national 


RECREATION 


275 


experience  is  molded  into  song.  None  can  interpret  the  Mar- 
seillaise as  can  the  French  ;  none  can  sing  "  Poland  is  not  Lost  " 
as  the  Poles ;  if  you  want  to  understand  the  Turk  and  his  five 
hundred  years  of  European  conquests,  study  his  music,  which 
holds  the  key  ;  listen  to  the  plaintive  melodies  of  Lithuania,  and 
the  history  of  this  ancient  people  is  understood ;  and  when 
America  makes  it  possible  for  the  race  spirit  of  every  nation  to 
interpret  the  passions  of  the  soul  of  man,  its  depths  and  its 
longings,  its  hopes  and  its  fears,  the  reaction  upon  the  aesthetic 
life  of  the  nation  will  be  incalculable. 

Love  of  the  Drama.  —  Many  of  the  foreigners  love  the  drama 
also.  Seldom  can  one  visit  the  vestry  of  a  parish  church  in  a 
foreign  colony,  but  he  finds  there  a  hall,  a  small  stage,  and  some 
bits  of  simple  scenery.  The  priests  proudly  explain  that  here  the 
dramatic  club  gives  its  performances.  Of  course  they  put  on  the 
stage  patriotic  plays  relating  to  their  own  country  and  their  own 
people.  The  lives  of  these  men,  for  many  years  after  they  have 
come  to  America,  revolve  around  the  heroic  in  their  own  people's 
history,  and  they  are  the  better  for  it.  When  a  Servian  priest 
was  asked  if  he  had  seen  the  tower  of  the  skulls  at  Nish,  he  rose 
from  his  seat,  his  eyes  shone,  and  with  dramatic  effect  he  told  us 
the  story  of  that  episode  of  horror  in  the  life  of  his  people.  A 
Polish  priest,  a  leader  among  his  people,  had  organized  a  dra- 
matic club  for  the  purpose  of  presenting  Polish  patriotic  plays. 
When  asked  what  was  the  purpose  he  had  in  view,  he  said,  "  I 
want  my  people  to  know  our  history,  to  know  our  heroes,  to 
know  Poland's  struggles  and  defeats,  and  to  learn  something  from 
the  story  of  a  brilliant  but  unfortunate  nation."  That  was  a 
laudable  purpose.  Every  European  nation  in  America  has  a 
background  that  is  replete  with  deeds  of  heroism,  and  the  sons 
of  every  one  of  these  wUl  gain  much,  and  we  will  lose  nothing, 
if  they  are  made  familiar  with  the  struggles  of  their  fathers. 

Italians  are  Actors.  —  But  of  all  the  nations  of  southeastern 
Europe,  the  most  passionately  fond  of  the  drama  is  the  Italian. 
Every  Italian  carries  an  actor  in  his  bosom  and  he  can  hardly  do 
anything  without  bringing  him  to  the  fore.  Italy  fosters  this 
talent,  and  the  sons  of  Italy  in  our  cities  can  be  organized 


276 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


into  dramatic  clubs  more  readily  than  into  any  other  kind.  The 
favorite  and  most  important  pastime  of  the  Italian  people  is  the 
theater.  A  dramatic  club  of  ItaUans  in  connection  with  one  of 
the  settlement  houses  in  New  York  City  placed  on  the  boards  one 
of  Shakespeare's  plays ;  the  performance  was  very  creditable, 
but  there  was  no  open  door  for  these  young  fellows  outside  the 
Italian  colony.  In  the  leading  cities  of  Italy,  the  government 
makes  an  appropriation  for  the  maintenance  of  the  theater  and 
sees  that  plays  of  merit  are  given  the  people.  Nothing  of  this 
character  is  done  by  us  ;  we  leave  the  foreigners  to  organize  their 
own  performances  and  generally  they  have  no  place  to  exhibit 
their  talent.  One  of  the  pleasures  of  a  \dsit  to  Hull  House, 
Chicago,  is  to  see  the  pictures  taken  of  Greeks,  performing  some 
of  the  plays  of  ancient  Hellas.  Miss  Jane  Addams  dehghts  to 
tell  how  these  newcomers  can  interpret  the  drama  of  classic  lore. 
The  men  who  took  the  parts  were  common  people  in  the  common 
walks  of  life,  but  when  they  took  to  the  stage  and  became  inter- 
preters of  the  genius  of  Greece,  that  dominated  the  culture  of 
Europe  for  a  thousand  years,  they  became  dignified  and  master- 
ful, and  gave  life  and  meaning  to  the  play  which  one  seeks  in 
vain  at  the  feet  of  learned  professors  in  colleges  or  in  elegantly 
staged  presentations  in  universities.  It  is  the  genius  of  the  race 
that  makes  this  possible.  WTien  the  Itahan  presents  the  plays 
of  Tasso,  Alfieri,  NiccoUni,  etc.,  then  we  have  the  best  inter- 
pretation of  Italian  life  and  thought,  and  the  same  is  true  of 
every  other  nation. 

Amusement  Places  Needed.  —  The  peoples  of  the  new  im- 
migration are  capable  of  enjoying  themselves,  if  suitable  places 
are  furnished  them.  Milwaukee  is  one  of  the  most  cosmopoli- 
tan cities  on  the  continent.  Eighty-four  per  cent  of  the  people 
are  either  foreign-born  or  the  descendants  of  foreign-born,  and 
the  city  has  tried  to  give  the  people  a  place  to  play  at  popular 
prices.  It  was  an  experiment,  but  it  appealed  to  the  people  as 
nothing  else  has  done  for  many  years.  That  hall  was  crowded 
with  people  bent  on  enjoyment,  and  if  it  did  not  meet  with  the 
approval  of  all  the  citizens,  it  did  prove  beyond  a  doubt  that  the 
people  want  a  place  for  relaxation  and  amusement.   In  a  town 


RECREATION 


in  New  Hampshire,  the  members  of  the  council  were  trustees  of 
a  building  bequeathed  to  the  town  for  a  library  and  in  which 
public  meetings  were  held.  The  foreigners  invaded  that  town, 
as  they  have  hundreds  of  others  in  New  England,  and  when  a 
band  of  college  men  began  work  for  foreigners,  the  members  of 
the  council  said,  "The  building  is  yours";  and  in  that  clean, 
well-hghted,  and  neatly  furnished  building,  the  foreigners  of  four 
different  nationalities  meet  for  instruction.  The  donor  never 
thought  of  these  men  when  he  made  the  gift,  but  if  he  returned  and 
saw  these  "  coming  Americans  "  at  work  and  witnessed  some  of 
the  things  they  enjoy  there,  he  would  see  how  much  more  good 
his  gift  is  doing  than  what  he  anticipated.  This  enlightened 
policy  is  not  characteristic  of  all  custodians  of  the  people's 
buildings.  The  aldermen  of  a  city  in  the  East  refused  the  use  of 
a  public  building  to  foreigners,  for  they  feared  that  they  would 
leave  a  "  smell  after  them."  There  are  some  things  in  life  worse 
than  the  smell  of  tobacco,  beer,  and  garlic,  and  one  of  them  is  the 
prejudice  and  narrowness  of  the  descendants  of  an  older  immi- 
gration against  the  members  of  the  new.  The  dance,  the  drama, 
and  music  have  a  place  in  the  life  of  the  people.  They  are  refin- 
ing and  educational  agencies  of  the  greatest  importance,  and  when 
we  forget  this,  we  will  injure  ourselves  while  wronging  the  for- 
eigner. It  would  be  much  better  for  America  to  transport  the 
dances,  dramas,  and  music  of  the  old  world  from  the  various  coun- 
tries represented  in  our  immigration,  furnish  suitable  rooms  where 
they  could  be  enjoyed,  than  to  leave  these  millions  in  crowded 
tenements,  unsanitary  camps,  and  demoralizing  mine  patches, 
which  crush  all  mirth  and  song  out  of  their  lives.  We  have  in 
the  millions  of  southeastern  Europe  a  mirthful  and  joyous  people, 
but  we  are  in  serious  danger  of  losing  this  mirth  and  joy  in  the 
humdrum  of  daily  toil,  and  the  struggle  for  life  in  dirty  tene- 
ments and  alleys.  Open  the  schoolhouses  and  the  halls,  the 
libraries  and  the  churches,  give  the  racial  genius  of  every  people 
an  opportunity  to  express  itself,  and  the  "  coming  American  " 
will  have  in  him  the  best  dance,  the  best  play,  and  the  best  song 
than  ever  human  heart  sang. 


CHAPTER  XrX 


CULTURE 

The  effect  of  American  education  and  culture  upon  the  for- 
eigner cannot  always  be  traced,  but  it  is  sometimes  found  in 
places  we  least  expect  to  find  it.  E.  Landau,  writing  to  the 
New  York  Times,  gives  the  following  incident.  In  an  excit- 
ing electoral  campaign  in  a  Slovak  community  in  Hungary,  a 
candidate  for  the  Hungarian  Congress  was  presenting  his  views, 
when  a  farmer  addressed  him  in  English :  "  Slovaks  don't 
understand  Hungarian.  Talk  English,  the  language  we  can 
understand."  The  candidate  did  so.  "  This  incident  brought 
out  the  fact  that  80  per  cent  of  the  3000  inhabitants  of  the 
community  had  lived  for  some  time  in  the  United  States  and 
acquired  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  English  language."  A  Greek 
boy,  who  had  been  in  one  of  our  schools,  returning  to  his  native 
country,  writes  as  follows :  "  The  driver  that  brought  me  from 
the  nearest  railroad  station  spoke  to  me  in  broken  English. 
Every  third  man  I  meet  has  been  or  intends  to  go  to  America." 
The  public  night  school,  the  private  evening  school,  and  pa- 
rochial school  are  sowing  seeds  that  blossom  into  fruition  on  the 
hills  and  plains  of  the  old  world. 

Some  Foreigners  Cultured.  —  All  the  men  of  the  new  immi- 
gration are  not  uncultured.  In  Moline,  a  foreigner,  working  in 
the  foundry,  was  seen  by  the  superintendent  reading  a  Latin 
author.  The  employer,  interested  in  the  man,  inquired  who  he 
was,  and  found  out  that  he  was  a  college  graduate,  in  bad  luck, 
who  had  entered  the  foundry  rather  than  suffer  want.  The 
employer  gave  the  man  a  chance  and  soon  he  was  in  the  ofi&ce  of 
the  company,  doing  very  satisfactory  work.  A  young  Ser\'ian, 
working  in  a  factory  in  Crystal  City,  had  command  of  many 
languages.    The   superintendent   discovered    his  worth  and 

278 


CULTURE 


279 


advanced  him  to  a  position  of  greater  responsibility ;  the  young 
man,  however,  told  his  employer  that  he  was  going  to  leave  — 
he  was  going  to  the  University  of  Chicago.  This  was  a  stiU 
greater  surprise  to  the  superintendent,  who,  on  inquiry,  found 
out  that  the  young  man  had  a  certificate  of  graduation  from  the 
Servian  college  in  Belgrade,  and  that  the  Chicago  University 
allowed  him  two  years'  credit  on  the  certificate.  Of  course, 
these  are  exceptions,  but  they  prove  that  from  the  backward 
countries  of  Europe,  we  do  receive  some  men  who  are  cultured.^ 
Foreigners  want  a  Chance.  —  In  studying  the  foreigner  and 
his  intellectual  needs,  it  is  well  for  us  to  keep  in  mind  the  point 
raised  by  John  R.  Commons  in  his  book  on  "  Races  and  Immi- 
grants in  America."  In  speaking  of  superior  and  inferior  races 
we  should,  he  says,  be  careful  to  distinguish  "  between  that 
superiority  which  is  the  original  endowment  of  race  and  that 
which  results  from  the  education  and  training  which  we  call 
civilization."  The  mental  endowment  of  a  Bulgarian  may 
equal  that  of  an  American,  but  if  he  has  been  raised  in  a  country 
where  medieval  civilization  still  lingers,  he  will  not  fit  very  well 
into  our  system,  dominated  by  standards  of  modern  civiliza- 
tion. Give  this  man  and  his  children  a  fair  chance,  and  soon 
they  will  put  on  the  robes  of  a  higher  civilization  and  make  good. 
I  believe  in  the  possibilities  of  the  foreigners,  even  those  coming 
from  the  backward  countries  of  southeastern  Europe.  They  are 
physically  strong,  their  mental  endowment  is  not  inferior  to  that 
of  Anglo-Saxons,  and  under  the  touch  of  America,  the  land  of 
opportunity,  we  may  expect  great  things.  Before  we  can  reap, 
however,  we  must  have  faith  in  these  "  coming  Americans." 
Suppose  we  were  to  address  every  foreigner,  as  he  lands,  in  the 
words  of  Carlyle:  "Brother,  thou  hast  possibility  in  thee  for 
much,  the  possibility  of  writing  on  the  eternal  skies  the  record 
of  a  heroic  life,"  would  we  not  get  better  things  from  this  man 
and  learn  quicker  how  to  develop  the  good  that  is  in  him?    It  is 

•Possibly  no  class  of  immigrants  to  America  suflfer  as  much  as  those  who  come 
from  among  the  cultured  but  poor  classes  in  Europe  in  hope  of  getting  clerical  or 
professional  work  in  this  country.  Few  ol  them  find  what  they  seek  and  most 
of  them  are  driven  to  manual  labor. 


28o 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


not  complimentary  to  our  system  of  education  that  a  foreign-born 
child  in  the  pubUc  school  is  more  familiar  with  the  story  of  Buffalo 
Bill  than  with  that  of  George  Washington  ;  that  the  foreign-bom 
young  man  soon  learns  to  honor  a  Sullivan  and  a  Jeffries  more 
than  an  Edison  or  a  Field ;  and  that  foreign-born  parents  are  more 
famihar  with  the  juvenile  coiut  than  with  the  public  school. 

What  does  the  Foreigner  need  to  Learn  ?  —  It  would  help 
greatly  in  the  discussion  of  this  question  of  the  education  and 
culture  of  the  foreigner,  if  we  were  to  define  clearly  what  we 
would  have  this  child  of  a  backward  civilization  do  and  become. 
How  many  native-born  men  can  tell  us  what  this  foreigner 
needs  to  become  a  fit  member  of  the  commonwealth  and  the 
Union?  Of  course,  we  all  agree  that  he  should  learn  the  Enghsh 
language,  fortius  is  and  must  be  the  language  of  court,  legislature, 
and  forum,  and  it  must  be  taught  to  the  coming  generations  of 
this  country ;  but  what  shall  we  add  to  this  indispensable  factor 
in  the  life  of  this  foreign-bom  brother  ?  No  sooner  is  he  landed 
but  a  relation  is  established  between  him  and  ourselves  which 
works  for  good  or  evil.  If  this  man  as  a  worker  has  no  sense  of 
duty,  takes  little  interest  in  his  work,  is  given  to  excessive  indul- 
gence, the  industrial  organization  will  suffer ;  if  he  pays  no  atten- 
tion to  the  laws  of  health,  lacks  self-control,  is  out  of  touch  with 
the  social  conscience  of  the  community,  has  no  sense  of  personal 
responsibility,  the  social  organism  will  suffer  ;  if  he  knows  nothing 
of  the  functions  of  the  state,  is  ever  ready  to  defeat  the  ends  of 
justice  by  concealing  the  prisoner  or  by  perjury,  and  is  not  willing 
to  take  his  place  in  the  state  organism  according  to  the  best  of  his 
powers,  then  the  body  politic  must  suffer  ;  if  he  beUeves  that  all  Ufe 
can  be  summed  up  in  a  "  Gospel  of  Mud,"  that  the  universe  is  an 
orphan,  that  there  are  no  eternal  verities  to  guide  the  individual 
or  the  state  and  that  death  ends  all,  then  he  cannot  enter  sym- 
pathetically into  the  spirit  of  America  nor  understand  the  foimda- 
tions  upon  which  our  civilization  rests.  When  a  Hungarian,  in 
Philadelphia,  applied  for  naturalization  and  declared  that  he  did 
not  believe  in  God  and  would  not  take  the  prescribed  oath,  the 
conscience  of  America  was  with  the  judge  who  refused  to  natural- 
ize him. 


CULTURE 


281 


Uplift  Work  not  Easy.  —  We  have  stated  before  that  35  per 
cent  of  the  people  of  southeastern  Europe  are  ilhterate ;  ^  fully 
80  per  cent  of  the  males  are  unskilled  workers ;  and  in  studying 
the  industries  they  enter,  we  also  saw  that  they  are  occupied  in 
positions  most  dirty,  disagreeable,  and  dangerous.  These  facts 
make  the  task  of  education  and  culture  the  more  difficult,  for 
it  may  be  laid  down  as  a  law,  that  the  less  claim  made  by  occu- 
pation upon  the  intellect  of  the  worker,  the  harder  becomes 
educational  work  and  the  heavier  the  demand  made  upon  brain 
and  purse  in  uplift  service.  The  task  of  helping  the  vast  army 
of  foreign-speaking  workers  to  a  full  appreciation  of  the  higher 
civilization  of  America  is  difficult  at  best.  If  this  mass  of  raw 
material  —  capable,  responsive,  and  patient  —  is  to  be  prepared 
for  "  coming  Americans,"  America  must  be  ready  to  pay  the 
price.  It  will  not  be  done  by  harangues  and  parades  on  special 
occasions ;  it  will  not  be  done  by  the  use  of  printer's  ink  by 
issuing  in  foreign  tongues  official  codes  and  city  regulations ;  it 
will  not  be  done  by  simply  opening  our  schools  and  putting  books 
within  reach  of  the  men  ;  it  must  be  done  by  the  personal  touch  of 
men  and  women  capable  of  leading  ;  the  organizer  and  his  corps 
of  assistants  must  exert  sympathetic  pressure ;  the  constraint 
of  love  must  come  into  play  ;  the  disinterested  effort  must  be  put 
forth ;  steady  and  continuous  work  must  be  done.  Sermons 
never  made  men  good,  lessons  of  themselves  will  never  make 
men  moral,  but  the  enthusiasm  of  sympathetic  hearts  for  good- 
ness and  virtue  has  kindled  love  and  zeal  in  the  hearts  of  men, 
and  it  will  do  the  same  to  this  brother  of  the  new  immigration. 

Must  meet  his  Need  Intelligently.  —  There  is  no  heart 
beating  that  is  larger  or  warmer  or  more  generous  than  the 
American  heart,  but  all  Americans  do  not  think  straight  when 
the  foreigner  is  in  question.  In  a  town  in  New  York  State,  the 
foreigners  petitioned  the  Board  of  Directors  for  a  night  school, 
and  the  native-born  voted  "  no,"  for  the  foreigners  would  dirty 
the  room  and  might  leave  something  after  them.  A  town  in 
New  England,  which,  under  the  state  law,  ought  to  have  opened 
a  school  for  the  foreigners,  shirked  its  responsibility.    When  a 

»  See  Table  XV  in  addenda. 


282 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


patriotic  American  lawyer  tried  to  compel  it  to  do  so,  by  an 
appeal  to  the  district  attorney  of  the  state,  the  game  of  politics 
came  into  play,  and  the  foreigners  were  left  in  the  cold.  When 
the  immigrants  come  into  the  public  schools,  the  appliances 
and  the  teaching  are  not  what  they  should  be.  Few,  indeed, 
are  the  public  schools  that  have  seriously  attempted  to  solve 
this  problem  of  teaching  the  foreigner.  In  a  New  England 
town,  a  Hungarian,  six  feet  tall  and  weighing  200  pounds,  was 
put  in  a  combination  desk,  suited  for  a  child  of  twelve  years, 
and  the  first  primer  given  him  to  read.  WTien  a  friend  of  mine 
visited  that  school,  he  saw  the  son  of  Hungary  bending  over  his 
lesson,  with  his  finger  on  the  sentence,  "  Sophia  had  a  little 
doll."  Before  that  Hungarian  and  a  thousand  of  his  kind  will 
be  helped  to  a  knowledge  of  our  language,  better  accommoda- 
tions must  be  provided  and  better  appliances  used  for  this  pur- 
pose. The  superintendent  of  the  public  school  also  has  his 
standard  as  to  the  number  in  the  class,  which  is  based  upon  usage 
in  the  day  school.  I  have  known  school  superintendents  who 
insist  upon  a  teacher  instructing  from  forty  to  fifty  foreigners; 
when  a  class  falls  below  that  number,  a  teacher  is  dismissed  and  two 
classes  are  combined  into  one ;  the  result  is  that  men  and  boys  are 
brought  together,  most  diverse  elements  sit  side  by  side,  and  the 
adults  become  dissatisfied  and  disheartened.  The  standard 
of  the  public  school  cannot  be  applied  to  the  work  of  teaching 
foreigners.  No  group  of  immigrants  learning  the  English 
language  under  a  teacher  should  number  more  than  from  fifteen 
to  twenty  in  a  class ;  with  that  many,  the  teacher  must  have  his 
wits  about  him  to  make  the  best  use  of  his  time  and  hold  the 
interest  of  the  men.  Nationalities  should  be  kept  separate  as 
far  as  possible.  No  more  than  three  lessons  a  week  should  be 
given  the  men  if  they  work  ten  hours  a  day.  The  lessons 
given  ought  to  be  such  as  would  appeal  to  this  man's  practical 
judgment. 

Socialize  the  Public  School.  —  Many  teachers  in  the  public 
schools,  engaged  to  teach  foreigners,  are  not  as  sympathetic 
with  them  as  they  should  be.  Most  of  them  are  yovmg  women 
who  teach  foreign-speaking  children  in  the  day,  and  because  of 


CULTURE 


283 


their  success  in  that  work,  they  are  employed  in  the  evening  to 
teach  foreign-speaking  adults.  Here,  again,  the  problem  is 
wholly  different.  What  suits  the  child  will  not  suit  the  man  ; 
they  are  two  different  creations  and  must  be  treated  differently. 
A  young  woman,  also,  who  does  her  work  faithfully  during  the 
day,  will  have  all  the  strain  she  can  stand,  and  the  foreigners 
want  the  teacher  at  her  best.  Some  men  teachers  employed  in 
this  work  were  blameless  as  teachers  in  regular  school  work, 
but  they  did  not  understand  the  foreigner,  had  no  sympathy 
for  him,  and  could  not  succeed  with  him.  Many  superintendents 
anxious  to  do  this  work  employ  men  to  teach  who  understand 
the  language  of  the  foreigner,  for,  they  argue,  a  teacher  so  qualified 
can  converse  with  his  pupils  in  their  mother  tongue  and  explain 
to  them  words  and  sentences  they  do  not  understand.  The 
result  of  this  method  of  teaching  is  that  the  foreigner  contracts  the 
habit  of  thinking  in  his  mother  tongue  and  then  translates  his 
sentences  into  English.  Such  pupils  will  never  think  in  English. 
It  is  better  to  give  the  foreigner  a  good  and  sympathetic  teacher 
who  knows  nothing  of  the  foreigner's  language  ;  he  will  then 
learn  to  talk  plainly  and  will  be  trained  to  think  in  English. 
When  the  public  school  does  this  work  in  an  efficient  manner,  it 
will  be  one  of  the  most  efficient  agencies  for  the  assimilation  of 
the  men  of  the  new  immigration  who  live  in  industrial  centers. 
Again,  the  plan  of  having  the  representatives  of  different  peoples 
meet  in  a  common  center  is  suggestive  of  the  amalgamation  of 
races  into  one  people,  upon  the  success  of  which  the  future 
American  depends.  \^'hen  men  touch  elbow,  they  know  each 
other  better,  suspicions  are  removed,  hostilities  are  allayed, 
common  bonds  are  found,  and  common  interests  unite  ;  common 
loyalty  to  their  adopted  country  fuses  racial  antipathy  into 
patriotic  ardor.  The  public  school,  sociahzed  under  the  leader- 
ship of  men  and  women  of  broad  sympathies,  will  render  an 
invaluable  service  to  the  community,  by  becoming  a  center 
around  which  both  the  foreign-  and  the  home-born  meet  on  a 
common  level. 

The  Roman  Church  can  do  Much.  —  Many  people  have 
asked,  why  is  it  the  Roman  Catholic  church  has  not  applied 


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itself  more  vigorously  to  this  problem  of  the  Americanization 
of  the  foreigner?  There  are  many  priests  who  have  showTi  a 
genuine  interest  in  the  work,  but  there  are  many  on  the  other 
side  also.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  majority  of  priests  are  indiffer- 
ent to  the  problem.  There  are  people  in  the  same  fold  who  do  not 
get  along  very  well.  The  Irish  and  the  Poles  have  very  httle  in 
common,  and  clerical  co-rehgionists  of  diilerent  tongues  are  more 
often  related  as  the  Jew  and  the  Samaritan  were  than  as 
soldiers  in  the  same  army.  If  harmony,  cooperation,  and  a 
definite  policy  for  the  assimilation  of  foreigners  prevailed,  there 
would  be  no  agency  as  potent  in  the  work  as  the  Roman  CathoUc 
church.  The  total  number  of  foreign-speaking  men  of  the 
Catholic  faith  in  the  United  States  cannot  be  less  than  3,000,000  ; 
they  worship  at  the  same  altar  and  imder  the  same  ritual  as 
another  9,000,000  loyal  English-speaking  Americans.  Suppose 
the  old  Sunday-school  method  of  teaching  Chinese  the  EngUsh 
language  —  a  teacher  for  each  pupil  —  were  installed,  how  long 
would  it  take  to  make  of  these  milUons  of  foreign-speaking  men 
intelligent  and  loyal  Americans? 

Education  and  Crime.  —  A  class  of  foreigners,  in  a  city  in 
New  York ,  was  organized  to  study  English.  A  native-bom  gentle- 
man, witnessing  the  first  lesson,  said,  "  That's  right,  more  of 
this  and  there  will  be  less  crime."  Shortly  after  that,  we  \"isited 
Sing  Sing  and  found  himdreds  of  foreigners  there.  We  asked 
the  superintendent  of  instruction,  "Are  you  teaching  EngUsh 
to  these  men?  "  He  replied,  "Yes."  He  invited  us  to  see  the 
school.  We  went  through  the  prison,  saw  the  foreigners  in  that 
community  where  the  spirits  of  men  are  crushed  by  a  system  of 
discipline  that  is  little  less  than  inhuman  and  irrational.  How 
those  men  were  alile  to  learn  anything  in  an  atmosphere  of  gloom 
and  suppression  passed  beyond  my  comprehension.  It  may  be 
necessary  for  the  sake  of  discipline  to  crush  men,  but  the  system 
produces  more  hatred  than  love,  more  suUenness  than  sympathy. 
That  prison  is  no  place  for  foreigners  to  learn  our  beautiful 
language,  or  to  have  impressions  of  what  America  means  to  men. 
There  are  in  the  penitentiaries  of  the  country  more  than  ten  thou- 
sand foreigners,  and  if  the  atmosphere  of  these  prisons  could  be 


CULTURE 


285 


made  human,  the  possibility  of  helping  these  men  to  a  better  under- 
standing of  our  language,  our  country,  and  our  ways,  would  be 
admirable.  A  foreign-speaking  criminal,  from  Fall  River,  was 
sent  to  the  penitentiary  to  expiate  his  crime.  After  he  served 
his  sentence,  he  returned  home  a  better  man,  and  one  of  the 
first  things  he  did  was  to  go  to  the  judge  who  sentenced  him  and 
say  :  "  Judge,  I  thank  you  for  the  sentence.  Before  I  left,  I 
could  not  talk  English,  now  I  can  ;  I  had  no  trade,  and  I  learnt 
one  there."  That  man  saw  the  light  in  a  prison's  cell ;  in  jail 
he  came  to  appreciate  fully  what  America  stands  for.  The  story 
of  how  that  prison  did  this  ought  to  be  written  and  sent  to  all 
superintendents  of  penitentiaries  in  the  land.  The  soul  of  this 
brother  was  reconciled  to  discipline ;  it  was  sweetened  to  sym- 
pathetic relationship  with  this  country  ;  he  came  back  to  freedom 
with  thankfulness  of  soul  and  a  grateful  heart.  Suppose  that 
were  done  with  the  ten  thousand  foreigners  in  the  penitentiaries 
of  the  land,  the  problem  of  assimilation  would  be  aided  from  a 
quarter  most  men  would  little  expect. 

Employers  are  Good  Helpers.  —  It  behooves  America  also  to 
help  this  strong  worker  who  has  wilUngly  put  his  strong  shoulders 
under  the  burden  of  our  industrial  Ufe.  It  is  universally  con- 
ceded that  he  is  willing,  docile,  and  a  hard  worker,  but  he  will 
serve  us  best  when  he  takes  pleasure  in  his  work  and  resolves  to 
do  it  well.  I  like  to  read  the  writings  of  Burbank, —  how  he 
tickles  the  soil  and  coaxes  the  stubborn  plant  until  it  breaks 
forth  into  blossom,  and  then  bends  its  head  in  thankfulness 
under  the  weight  of  luscious  fruit.  If  this  is  done  to  dull, 
inanimate  soil,  how  much  more  can  be  done  to  man  if  the  right 
spirit  and  motive  are  enlisted  in  the  work.  We  have  discussed 
the  possibilities  of  the  public  school  and  the  church  taking  a 
part  in  this  work  of  assimilation,  but  the  man  who  stands  over 
this  worker,  guides  his  operation,  and  makes  it  possible  for  him 
and  his  family  to  live,  what  of  him?  Suppose  all  foremen  and 
superintendents,  all  bosses  and  captains,  in  daily  touch  with 
foreigners,  were  to  resolve  to  deal  justly  and  sympathetically 
with  Malucas,  Pietro,  Jacola,  etc.,  would  there  not  be  a  change 
in  the  industrial  world  more  marked  than  any  projected  by 


286 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


scientific  management  ?  Nothing  hinders  the  progress  of  good 
workmanship  among  foreigners  so  much  as  the  curses  and  in- 
justices of  foremen  in  the  works.  Nothing  drives  away  the 
newcomer  from  the  love  of  good  work  as  the  manner  in  which  he  is 
treated  when  at  work.  Nothing  kills  the  egoism  of  the  foreigner 
as  the  consciousness  that  he  is  treated  as  a  dog.  Industrial 
America  has  many  model  foremen  and  they  speak  highly  of  the 
foreigners.  Many  instances  of  such  men  have  been  given  in 
the  previous  pages.  Here  is  one  more.  This  man  had  a  gang 
of  Italians,  whom  he  treated  kindly  and  justly  and  got  good 
work  from  the  men.  Every  morning  they  took  off  their  hats 
to  him  and  cheerfully  began  the  day's  work ;  at  evening,  they 
did  not  forget  to  say  "  good-bye."  There  were  no  oaths,  no 
driving,  but  encouraging  words  and  personal  example,  if  need 
be,  so  that  the  foreigner  may  know  how  to  do  the  work  aright. 
The  job  was  finished,  and  the  whole  gang  came  to  the  boss  and 
said  through  the  leader,  "  Won't  you  take  us  with  you  to 
work,  we  like  to  work  for  you  ?  " 

Women  should  be  Educated.  —  There  is  a  Croatian  proverb 
which  says,  "  Woman's  way  is  from  the  hearth  to  the  kitchen 
door."  That  reflects  pretty  accurately  the  position  of  woman 
in  the  nations  of  southeastern  Europe.  VUlari  tells  us  that 
"the  great  majority  of  Italian  women  are  as  yet  uneducated. 
.  .  .  She  speaks  no  language  but  her  own,  never  opens  a  book 
save  occasionally  some  devotional  work;  she  has  no  idea  be- 
yond the  children,  the  kitchen  and  the  linen  closet."^  The 
wives  of  the  new  immigration  are  far  more  backward  than  the 
men,  for  they  seldom  leave  the  foreign  colony,  rarely  have  an 
opportunity  to  hear  the  English  language,  and  hardly  ever  enter 
an  American  home.  This  daughter  of  a  backward  civilization 
is  able,  on  the  farms  of  the  fatherland,  to  keep  herself  and 
members  of  her  household  in  good  health  ;  but  when  she  comes 
to  America,  and  is  planted  down  in  a  congested  city,  she  does  not 
know  how  to  do  so.  One  of  the  best  services  ever  rendered 
the  foreigners  in  the  United  States  was  rendered  by  one  of  the 
medical  and  surgical  societies  of  one  of  our  cities.  Ha\'ing 

^  "Italian  Life  ia  Town  and  Country,"  p.  124. 


CULTURE 


287 


carefully  planned  a  series  of  lectures  on  personal  and  social 
hygiene,  it  asked  counsel  of  the  philanthropic  and  charitable 
agencies  of  the  city,  where  these  talks  could  best  be  given,  to 
what  people,  and  at  what  time.  The  leaders  secured  the  serv- 
ices of  educated  Poles  to  interpret  the  lectures  to  the  Polish 
inhabitants  ;  of  an  Italian,  to  the  Italians,  etc.  It  was  service 
well  rendered,  and  could  well  be  copied  by  all  cities  in  the 
industrial  and  immigration  zone.  Some  industrial  plants  have 
engaged  the  services  of  trained  nurses  to  go  and  help  the  foreign- 
born  sister  in  the  home  and  with  the  children.  This  is  service 
that  counts.  It  is  important  to  assimilate  the  men  of  the  new 
immigration,  but  that  work  will  not  count  for  much  if  we  neglect 
the  women  in  the  homes. 

Relation  to  the  State.  —  The  foreigner  wants  the  right  point 
of  view  as  to  his  relationship  to  the  state.  The  attitude  of 
being  against  the  government  is  due  to  ignorance.  The  govern- 
ment of  the  homeland  meant  to  most  of  these  men  tyranny, 
taxation,  and  terror.  It  is  easy  for  them  to  think  that  govern- 
ment in  America  is  pretty  much  the  same.  When  a  case  of 
smallpox  or  some  other  malignant  disease  breaks  out  among 
the  foreign-speaking  population  of  New  York  City,  it  is  well- 
nigh  impossible  for  the  authorities  to  trace  it  and  stamp  it  out, 
for  the  foreigners  will  not  aid  the  health  officers ;  they,  indeed, 
put  every  obstacle  in  their  way.  They  do  not  understand  the 
machinery  of  government ;  they  cannot  see  the  reason  why 
laws  should  be  laid  down  which  cause  them  annoyance  and  work, 
and  against  the  oflScers  of  the  law  they  wage  a  continuous  war. 
When  the  physicians  in  attendance  on  some  of  the  public  schools 
in  New  York  City  attempted  to  perform  a  simple  operation  on 
some  of  the  children  of  the  foreigners,  a  riot  was  precipitated 
and  the  scientists  were  in  mortal  terror.  All  this  comes  to  pass 
because  of  wrong  conceptions  of  the  relation  of  the  citizen  to  the 
government,  and  the  foreigners  need  instruction  in  this  respect 
by  wise  and  sympathetic  men.  In  a  night  school,  made  up  of 
fifty  foreigners,  the  pupils  were  studying  government,  and  the 
teacher  invited  the  mayor  to  address  the  group.  He  came  well 
prepared,  and,  taking  out  his  manuscript,  began  to  read.  He 


288 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


had  not  gone  far  before  he  saw  that  he  was  reading  over  the 
heads  of  all  the  men,  and,  leaving  his  manuscript  on  the  desk, 
he  came  down  to  the  level  of  the  men  and  spoke  in  a  simple, 
straightforward  manner,  and  most  of  the  men  imderstood  him 
and  greatly  enjoyed  the  evening.  That  New  England  Yankee 
had  the  gumption  of  his  fathers  and  readily  adjusted  himself 
to  the  situation.  He  understood  men  and  he,  that  night,  won 
the  hearts  of  the  foreigners,  for  he  became  one  with  them. 

America  Stimulates.  —  A  student  of  this  question  of  the 
education  and  culture  of  the  foreigner  has  proposed  that  every 
immigrant  should  be  examined  before  he  is  allowed  to  land, 
whether  or  not  he  "  has  the  intellectual  capacity  of  being  able 
to  act  healthfully  and  judiciously  as  an  American  citizen." 
It  is  fortunate  that  no  such  test  is  put  into  practice,  for  it  is 
wonderful  how  America  has  the  power  to  create  anew  many 
of  the  men  who  come  in.  I  have  seen  stohd  men,  dressed  in 
sheepskin,  apparently  indifferent  to  good  or  evdl,  stupid  and 
irresponsive,  •s\-ithin  a  year,  awake  as  if  from  the  dead  and 
become  alert,  aggressive,  and  responsive  to  all  that  is  American. 
Men  have  been  created  anew  in  this  new  world.  At  first,  every- 
thing appears  strange  and  different  from  what  it  was  in  the 
old  world.  Dr.  Da\'id  Blaustein  tells  of  a  Jewish  boy  who, 
after  being  in  this  country  some  time,  began  to  read  his  Hebrew 
Bible  from  left  to  right,  instead  of  from  right  to  left.  They 
asked  him  why  he  did  so  and  his  reply  was,  "  I  find  everything 
different  in  this  country  from  what  it  was  in  Russia  and  I  thought 
that  reading  Hebrew  must  also  be  different."  It  takes  time 
to  adjust  one's  self  to  a  new  environment.  Two  men  in  Ellis 
Island,  on  a  simimer's  day,  sat  together  on  a  bench.  One  was 
well  dressed  in  American  clothes,  had  an  intelligent  face,  looked 
prosperous,  held  his  head  erect,  and  spoke  in  a  spirited  manner. 
The  other  was  iU  clad,  his  face  stupid,  his  general  appearance 
unfavorable,  and  he  spoke  in  a  low  voice  and  his  head  was  bowed 
to  earth.  I  addressed  the  better-dressed  man  and  said,  "  You 
are  not  an  immigrant?  "  "  Xo,"  was  his  reply,  "  I  Uve  in  Phila- 
delphia; I  came  here  to  meet  my  brother.  What  do  you  think 
of  him,  does  he  look  like  me  ?  "  and  he  pointed  to  the  man  sitting 


CULTURE 


289 


on  the  bench.  "  Well,"  I  answered,  "  no,  I  don't  think  he  looks 
much  like  you."  "  No,"  said  the  Philadelphian,  "  he  looks  like 
a  monkey."  I  saw  in  that  sober  countenance  and  squalid 
apparel,  centuries  of  Russian  oppression  —  the  knout,  imprison- 
ment, persecution,  and  murder.  Would  America  straighten 
that  form,  lift  up  that  head,  and  put  a  smile  on  that  face,  as  better 
clothes  were  put  upon  the  body  ?  Yes,  that  is  what  this  land  of 
opportunity  does  to  the  millions  of  Europe.  It  is  culture  for 
them  to  breathe  the  air  of  this  "  home  of  the  free  " ;  it  is  an 
education  to  be  able  to  travel  where  they  will ;  coming  to  America 
is  the  resurrection  of  many  a  soul  to  newness  of  life,  and  that 
accounts  for  the  fervent  patriotism  of  milhons  of  foreign-born 
men  to-day  in  America,  who  would  gladly  lay  down  their  lives 
for  the  land  of  their  adoption. 

Libraries  do  Good  Work.  —  In  this  process  of  educating  the 
foreigner,  the  libraries  of  the  land  are  interested.  In  Detroit, 
in  the  pubhc  library,  there  is  a  bright  Polish  young  lady  in 
charge  of  the  department  of  foreign  literature.  She  told  me  that 
they  had  twenty  thousand  volumes  in  Polish,  ItaHan,  Yiddish, 
French,  and  German.  These  foreign  books  were  distributed  in 
various  factories  where  foreigners  worked,  in  order  to  cultivate 
their  taste  for  reading.  The  books  were  chosen  with  great  care 
and  had  a  special  relation  to  United  States  history,  biography, 
and  government.  That  is  excellent.  In  Buffalo,  a  branch  of 
the  pubhc  library  is  found  in  "  Dom  Polski,"  a  building  put 
up  and  maintained  by  the  Poles  of  the  city.  A  PoUsh  lady  is  in 
charge,  and  her  countrymen  come  there  to  read,  take  out  books, 
and  spend  an  hour  with  their  friends.  The  same  desire  and 
anxiety  to  help  foreigners  is  found  in  other  cities  in  the  immigra- 
tion zone.  In  annual  sessions  of  library  associations  in  the 
states  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania,  the  hbrarians 
express  an  earnest  desire  to  give  a  helping  hand  to  the  foreigners 
by  bringing  within  their  reach  books  which  will  help  them  to 
understand  America.  Some  librarians  have  gone  farther  than 
that ;  they  have  opened  the  spare  room  to  the  foreigners  who 
meet  there  regularly  to  study  the  English  language.  One  of 
these  sympathetic  hbrarians,  in  a  branch  library  in  Brooklyn, 
u 


290 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


made  it  a  practice  to  be  present  at  each  session  when  the  for- 
eigners came  together  ;  she  brought  all  the  books  the  Ubrary  had 
in  their  language  to  that  room;  she  soon  was  able  to  call  each 
man  by  name,  and  her  estimate  of  them  was,  "  fine  fellows." 

Foreigners  should  choose  the  Books.  —  Of  course,  the  taste 
of  the  foreigner  in  literature  is  not  our  taste ;  the  standards  by 
which  he  judges  a  book  are  not  our  standards.  Anglo-Saxon 
ideas  and  ethical  concepts  are  not  always  the  best  guide  in  the 
selection  of  books  for  foreigners.  The  best  results  in  the  choice 
of  books  are  secured  by  asking  for  the  cooperation  of  a  com- 
mittee from  among  the  foreigners  themselves  to  make  the 
selection.  In  every  foreign  community  there  are  men  who  can 
do  this.  The  foreigner  knows  how  to  behave  when  he  comes  to 
the  reading  room  of  the  library.  Miss  Wells,  of  Pittsburgh, 
once  contrasted  the  foreign  and  the  American  attitude  by  saying, 
"  The  foreigners  come  in  quietly  and  with  genial  spirit,  they  will 
pass  on  the  papers  to  their  friends  and  not  do  as  Americans,  sit 
on  one  while  they  read  the  other."  Some  foreigners  interpret 
the  words  "  Free  Library  "  too  literally  —  they  take  the  books 
and  never  return  them,  on  the  supposition  that  they  are  free  to 
keep  them.  A  group  of  five  Poles,  in  one  of  the  cities  of  Penn- 
sylvania, gave  considerable  trouble  to  the  librarian  because 
they  forgot  to  bring  back  the  books.  Immigrants  need  train- 
ing to  use  libraries  properly. 

Foreigners  have  Self-culture.  —  Among  all  the  peoples  of 
the  new  immigration  may  be  found  small  libraries,  educational 
societies,  and  clubs  for  self-culture.  When  in  Ashokam  Dam, 
visiting  the  bunks  where  the  foreigners  slept,  I  saw  two  young 
men  studying  English ;  the  one  had  a  Russian-English  book  and 
the  other  a  Bulgarian-English  reader.  In  hotels  and  shoe 
shining  parlors,  Greek  boys  may  be  seen  studying  our  language 
and  wrestling  with  the  difl&culties  of  our  grammar.  The  desire 
to  learn,  the  ambition  for  culture,  is  found  among  all  peoples, 
but  we  have  to  look  for  it  sometimes  behind  the  screen,  for  the 
men  are  shy  and  sensitive.  To  meet  this  desire  for  education, 
to  guide  these  men,  to  lead  them  into  sympathetic  relation  with 
the  education  and  culture  of  America,  is  our  privilege  and  duty. 


CULTURE 


If  they  stay  in  the  United  States  and  become  citizens,  the  more 
intelligent  they  are,  the  better  for  us ;  if  they  go  back  to  the 
fatherland,  the  seeds  of  an  enlightened  democracy  will  be 
transmitted  to  the  backward  countries  of  Europe,  and  in  this 
way  the  new  world  will  in  part  discharge  the  debt  it  owes  to  the 
old.  The  leaven  of  democracy  is  working  in  the  countries  of 
southeastern  Europe,  the  people  are  awakening  to  the  blessings 
of  a  stable  government,  to  education,  industry,  and  commerce, 
and  the  credit  is  largely  due  to  the  spirit  of  America,  trans- 
mitted by  the  hundreds  of  thousands  who  have  lived  here  and 
have  gone  back  to  the  home  of  their  childhood  to  tell  their 
friends  how  they  do  things  in  America. 


PART  V 


ASSIMILATION  —  fflNDRANCES 


CHAPTER  XX 

RELATIONS  TO  AMERICANS 

AxL  Americans  do  not  treat  the  foreigner  alike,  but  almost 
all  despise  him  for  his  economic  standing  and  his  apparent 
stupidity.  While  standing  on  the  comer  of  one  of  the  streets 
of  Nomich,  Conn.,  swept  clean  by  half  a  dozen  Italians,  I 
remarked  to  a  native-born  gentleman  who  stood  near  me, 
"  These  foreigners  do  good  work."  "  Yes,"  was  his  reply, 
"and  they  do  it  cheap."  I  asked,  "  What  do  they  earn?  " 
"  They  get  Si. 25  (?)  a  day,"  he  said  ;  "  no  white  man  would  do 
it  for  that  —  Yanks  want  more."  There  was  a  contempt  in  his 
voice  far  beyond  the  words  he  used,  and  this  is  the  attitude  of 
the  English-speaking,  be  they  foreign-  or  native-born.  This 
immigrant  who  fills  positions  where  little  or  no  skill  is  needed, 
who  digs  the  sewers  and  aqueducts,  who  builds  the  railroads 
and  tunnels,  who  slaughters  the  animals  we  eat  and  tans  their 
hides,  who  fills  blast  furnaces  and  taps  them  of  their  contents, 
who  pours  the  molten  metal  into  molds  and  poUshes  the 
castings,  who  grinds  steel  and  saws  wood  —  labor  which  the 
native-born  will  not  touch  —  is  despised  because  he  is  there 
doing  this  work.  We  seldom,  if  ever,  think  of  the  heroic  in  the 
life  of  this  foreign-born  brother.  Never  did  man  in  his  barbaric 
stage  wage  a  fiercer  conflict  with  nature  than  thousands  of  these 
men  wage  in  trying  to  make  a  living  in  our  industrial  system. 
If  the  average  native-born  family  had  to  live  on  $1.50  a  day  in 

292 


RELATIONS  TO  AMERICANS 


293 


our  large  cities,  there  would  be  a  revolution  within  a  twelve- 
month, but  thousands  of  foreign-born  families  live  on  less  and 
suffer.  In  talking  to  a  young  man,  native-born,  we  asked  him, 
"  How  much  do  you  make  per  day?  "  He  answered,  "  $3.60." 
"  Are  you  married?  "  His  reply  was,  "  No,  how  can  a  man 
marry  on  such  a  wage,"  and  he  began  to  tell  how  much  he  spent 
on  room  and  board,  on  clothes  and  theaters,  etc.  That  man 
lived  in  a  wholly  different  world  from  the  one  in  which  the 
foreigner  lived ;  he  could  never  have  anything  save  a  feeling  of 
contempt  for  the  foreigner  who  worked  for  $1.25  a  day,  and  for 
the  foreign-born  father  who  struggled  to  raise  his  family  on 
$1.50  a  day. 

The  Foreigner  hangs  On.  —  Yet  this  man  of  low  wage  and 
unskilled  labor  is  here,  and  the  native-born  wage  earner,  with 
all  his  contempt,  is  conscious  that  he  is  the  man  that  is  at  his 
heels.  In  many  occupations  the  foreigner  presses  the  English- 
speaking  worker  hard  and  in  some  he  drives  him  out.  He  has 
many  qualities  which  the  native-born  workman  will  do  well  to 
notice.  When  in  Berwick,  Pa.,  conversing  with  the  employ- 
ment agent,  we  saw  foreigners  waiting  around  that  office  all  day. 
We  expressed  surprise  at  seeing  them  there  hour  after  hour, 
morning  and  afternoon,  but  the  employment  agent  said  :  "  That's 
the  way  the  foreigner  does ;  tell  him  you  don't  want  him  in  the 
morning,  yet  he'll  hang  around  all  day  and  show  himself.  An 
American  will  come  to  the  window  in  the  morning  and,  if 
refused  work,  he  goes  away  immediately  and  you  don't  see  him 
again  until  the  following  morning,  when  he  does  the  same  thing." 
During  the  winter  1907-1908  troops  of  foreigners  hung  around 
industrial  plants,  waiting  the  call  of  the  employer ;  no  matter 
what  hour  he  called,  they  were  there  to  answer.  The  perse- 
verance of  the  foreigner  is  also  remarkable.  When  he  makes  up 
his  mind  to  go  after  anything,  he  stays  on  the  trail  until  he 
reaches  the  goal.  This  quality  of  "  hanging  on  "  is  one  of  his 
chief  characteristics,  and  its  lack  is  the  bane  of  thousands  of 
bright  young  Americans. 

They  do  what  they  are  Told.  —  The  foreigner  is  also  amena- 
ble to  discipline.    He  is  anxious  to  please,  will  run  to  do  the 


294 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


will  of  the  boss,  will  not  project  his  owti  ideas  and  talk  back, 
and  American  foremen  like  him  because  of  this.  A  man  in 
Albany,  N.Y.,  in  the  restaurant  business,  having  wide  experi- 
ence in  rimning  lunch  counters  in  half  a  dozen  cities,  employs 
Greeks  and  Armenians  almost  wholly  to  do  his  work.  When 
asked,  "  Can't  you  get  EngUsh-speaking  labor?  "  his  reply  was, 
"  Yes,  but  you  cannot  rely  upon  it.  They  are  with  you 
to-day  and  to-morrow  gone.  Also  the  men  are  too  touchy. 
They  would  soon  nm  me  out  of  business  if  I'd  let  them.  The 
foreigners  are  steady;  they  do  what  you  tell  them."  It  is  well 
to  have  initiative,  to  have  ideas,  but  the  average  foreman  wants 
work  done  according  to  instruction,  and  that  is  what  the  for- 
eigner does. 

They  are  Thrifty.  —  The  foreigner  also  saves  money.  He 
has  the  old-fashioned  \irtue  of  thrift,  which  is  largely  out  of 
date  in  the  lives  of  ovu-  yoimg  people,  who  are  taught  by  pro- 
fessors of  economics,  as  well  as  by  labor  leaders,  that  the  more 
man  spends  the  better  it  is  for  the  social  organism.  The  for- 
eigner does  not  believe  that.  In  many  industrial  towns,  bank- 
ers say,  "  The  foreigners  are  the  only  ones  who  save."  One 
man  put  it  this  way,  "  They  have  a  little  nest  to  draw  upon." 
They  prepare  for  a  "  rainy  day  " —  a  thing  Anglo-Saxons  once 
did.  And  is  it  not  true  that  this  old-fashioned  wtue  has  made 
it  possible  for  foreigners  to  win  industrial  conflicts?  In  the 
strikes  involving  both  the  English-speaking  workmen,  as  well  as 
foreigners,  the  latter  as  a  body  have  been  better  able  to  stand 
the  siege  than  the  former,  because  of  the  "  little  nest."  The 
foreigner  has  many  other  quaUties  besides  the  three  specified 
—  loyalty,  industry,  common  sense  —  but,  judging  him  as 
related  to  the  industrial  man  ahead,  what  will  this  trinity  of 
qualities  —  persistence,  amenability,  thrift  —  do  for  him  as 
related  to  the  man  going  before?  WiU  they  give  him  an  ad- 
vantage in  the  competition  daily  going  on  among  wage  earners 
in  the  industrial  world  of  these  United  States  ? 

The  Evils  Foreigners  Bring.  —  J.  D.  Whelpley  in  summing 
up  the  evils  of  immigration  says,  "  They  underbid  the  labor 
market,  raise  important  and  vexatious  municipal  questions, 


RELATIONS  TO  AMERICANS 


295 


strain  charitable  resources  to  the  utmost,  increase  the  cost  of 
government,  expose  the  healthy  people  to  contagious  diseases 
common  to  the  poorer  classes  of  Europe,  corrupt  the  body 
poUtic,  and  in  every  way  compUcate  a  situation  none  too  simple 
at  best."  Americans  in  every  city  have  come  face  to  face  with 
these  tendencies,  but  in  the  category  of  evils  specified,  none  is 
more  menacing  to  the  future  interest  of  this  democracy  than  the 
low  standard  of  living  practiced  by  the  foreigner,  and  the 
tendency  to  pull  down  the  standards  of  the  American  worker 
to  that  level.  John  R.  Commons  never  said  a  truer  thing  than 
when  he  wrote,  "  The  future  of  American  democracy  is  the 
future  of  the  American  wage  earner."  The  body  of  male  and 
female  wage  earners,  comprising  80  per  cent  of  the  people 
employed  in  gainful  occupation,  is  the  stay  and  strength  of  the 
nation,  and  any  agency  which  tends  to  decrease  the  sum  total 
of  consumptive  goods,  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
mass  of  wage  earners  in  strength  and  vigor,  tends  to  reduce  the 
efl&ciency  of  the  working  force,  makes  it  harder  to  found  a  home 
and  raise  a  family,  and  brings  insidious  evils  to  bear  upon  the 
children  to  the  third  and  fourth  generation.  The  lowering  of 
the  standard  of  li\ang  of  American  workmen  is  a  twofold  tviX 
which  every  American  should  resist  —  it  is  inimical  to  all  that 
is  best  in  American  life  and  it  retards  the  progress  of  man's 
civilization. 

Americans  stand  Aloof.  —  The  contempt  felt  by  Americans 
for  the  foreigner  has  intensified  the  menace  to  wage  earners. 
They  have  despised  the  newcomer  and  kept  aloof  from  him. 
The  foreigners  from  southeastern  Europe,  being  left  to  them- 
selves, have  known  nothing  better  than  the  standards  they 
brought  with  them  from  the  fatherland.  If  the  door  of  friendly 
fellowship  between  them  and  the  native-born  workman  were  kept 
open,  the  higher  standards  would  sooner  affect  the  immigrants. 
Isolation  is  stagnation.  No  greater  curse  can  happen  to  a 
foreign  colony  than  to  be  left  "  dead  alone."  If  these  men  and 
women  see  nothing  better  than  they  brought  with  them  from 
Europe,  how  can  they  rise  to  higher  standards?  Every  colony 
of  foreign-speaking  men,  left  to  themselves,  exerts  a  continuous 


296 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


downward  pressure  on  the  wage  of  the  native-bom.  It  is  a 
mistake  for  EngUsh-speaking  workers  to  stand  afar  off  and 
curse  the  foreigner ;  their  interest  Ues  in  making  them  friends 
and  that  as  fast  as  possible ;  in  educating  them  in  American  ways 
by  means  within  their  power ;  and  in  bringing  the  influence  of 
a  higher  civiUzation  to  bear  upon  them.  It  is  waste  of  time 
to  protest  against  the  incoming  millions  of  Europe.  The  steam- 
ship and  the  railroads  won't  be  argued  out  of  modern  civihza- 
tion.  These  agencies  have  made  the  world  much  smaller  than 
it  was  in  the  days  of  Washington.  The  wireless,  the  long-dis- 
tance telephone,  and  the  aeroplane  will  stih  further  reduce  space. 
The  workmen  of  the  civilized  world  are  in  competition  with  the 
workmen  of  America,  and  the  salvation  of  the  labor  force  in  the 
United  States  lies  in  bringing  together,  into  friendly  relationship, 
the  workers  of  all  nations  in  American  industries.  The  barriers 
of  prejudice  must  be  torn  down  as  those  separating  civiUzed  men 
have  been.  If  the  standard  of  living  in  the  United  States  is 
to  be  partially  preserved,  men  of  all  races  must  cooperate.  The 
initiative  and  organization  to  effect  this  depend  more  upon  the 
good  will  and  sympathy  of  English-speaking  workers  in  America 
than  upon  the  action  of  any  other  agency. 

Foreigners  will  Imitate.  —  This  man  will  respond  to  the 
approaches  of  his  Enghsh-speaking  brother,  if  the  approach  is 
made  in  the  spirit  of  true  brotherhood.  He  will  copy  the  higher 
standards  of  American  workers,  he  will  absorb  their  ideals  and 
will  stubbornly  resist  efforts  to  cut  down  that  portion  of  pro- 
ductive wealth  given  the  worker  for  his  maintenance  and  that 
of  his  family.  Let  any  one  compare  the  condition  of  these 
European  peoples  in  the  homeland  and  their  condition  in  America, 
and  if  he  doubts  their  power  to  adapt  themselves  to  American 
standards,  he  will  be  cured  of  his  doubt.  The  worst  material 
conditions  surrounding  our  poorest  classes  in  America  would 
be  considered  splendid  luxury  in  Russia,  and  the  food  eaten  by 
Slav  and  Magyar  here  would  be  a  feast  in  many  sections  of  the 
Balkans.  No  foreigner  has  Uved  in  the  United  States  five 
months,  but  he  feels  the  upward  drawing  of  American  standards. 
In  the  home  and  in  work,  in  society  and  in  church,  on  parade 


RELATIONS  TO  AMERICANS 


297 


and  in  funerals,  these  men  clearly  show  the  influence  of  a  new 
environment.  But  this  conscious  effort  of  aUens  to  copy  higher 
standards  would  be  more  marked  if  Enghsh-speaking  men,  who 
use  the  foreigner's  strength  in  shop  and  factory,  mill  and  mine, 
were  to  draw  closer  to  him  in  his  social,  political,  and  moral 
life.    The  great  solvent  of  social  prejudice  is  sympathy. 

Quaint  Ways  among  Foreigners.  —  The  foreigner  is  ignorant 
of  our  ways,  but  let  us  remember  that  he  comes  from  countries 
that  are  backward.  In  the  Balkans,  the  mountaineers  have 
no  schools  and  they  have  many  quaint  customs.  Take,  for 
example,  the  way  they  have  of  naming  men  —  a  way  that  was 
once  common  all  over  Europe.  They  call  a  man  Murchi,  son 
of  Nicholas,  as  was  the  custom  in  Biblical  times  —  David,  the 
son  of  Jesse ;  Jesus,  the  son  of  Joseph,  etc.  A  man  in  Ellis 
Island  carried  three  names :  one  after  his  father,  one  after 
his  mother,  and  a  pet  name  given  him  by  his  godfather.  All 
this  is  funny  to  us,  but  it  does  not  necessarily  follow  that  the 
man  is  bad  because  we  are  perplexed  and  confused  on  account  of 
this  ancient  way  of  naming  men.  This  man  may  cook  his 
food  and  eat  it  very  differently  from  the  way  to  which  we  are 
accustomed,  but  it  does  not  follow  that  he  is  undesirable  and 
that  he  is  a  being  of  a  lower  order  because  of  that.  This  man 
is  here,  he  is  anxious  to  become  an  American,  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  them  have  bought  homes  and  are  raising  strong 
families,  and  all  they  ask  of  us  in  this  democracy  is  a  "  square 
deal."  Many  men  to-day  decry  the  sentiment,  "  all  men  are 
born  equal,"  proclaimed  to  the  world  by  the  founders  of  this 
nation.  India  has  its  millions  organized  into  strata,  arranged 
according  to  the  tenets  of  a  philosophy  diametrically  opposed  to 
that  actuating  the  framers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
India  is  in  the  throes  of  reconstruction  and  its  millions  suffer 
inexpressible  woes,  but  America  has  proclaimed  liberty  to  the 
peoples  of  the  earth  and  leads  the  procession  of  nations  to  a 
higher  civilization.  Woe  be  the  day  when  America  departs 
from  the  philosophical  basis  of  the  fathers  upon  which  they 
built  so  wisely.  Americans,  more  than  any  civihzed  people, 
have  kept  open  the  door  of  opportunity,  so  that  the  boy  in  the 


298 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


gutter  may  rise  to  the  position  of  highest  honor  in  the  land. 
It  is  the  interest  of  the  working  classes  to  keep  open  that  door, 
and  set  their  faces  against  all  quibbhng  at  this  phrase,  "  all  men 
are  born  equal,"  w-ith  a  view  to  destroy  its  deep  intent  and 
purpose.  But  the  workingmen  of  this  coimtry  can  never  hope 
to  do  this  unless  they  are  ready  to  recognize  the  equality  of 
man  in  the  individual,  be  he  Irish  or  Itahan,  German  or  Greek, 
Hungarian  or  Hindu.  Will  American  workmen  awake  to  their 
great  obligation?  Will  they  see  and  believe  that  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  the  brotherhood  of  man  rests  upon  the 
equality  of  race,  and  this  will  be  an  idle  dream  vmless  it  rests 
upon  the  equahty  of  the  indi\'idual  ? 

Persecution  of  Foreigners.  —  And  this  obUgation  of  giving 
a  square  deal  to  every  foreigner  in  the  land  is  an  obUgation  that 
rests  upon  every  member  of  the  commimity.  A  lady  in  an 
industrial  town  in  Massachusetts,  said,  "  These  foreigners  —  we 
may  as  well  give  up  the  country  to  them ;  they  fill  up  every- 
where." The  gentleman  whom  she  addressed,  said,  "  That's 
so,  madam,  but  please  tell  me  where  will  you  go?  "  That 
question,  "  WTiither  shall  we  go  from  the  presence  of  the  for- 
eigner? "  haunts  many  thousands  of  persons  to-day  in  the  immi- 
gration zone.  The  most  American  cities  on  the  continent  are 
in  the  Southwest,  and  the  immigrant  in  the  last  few  years  has 
set  his  face  in  that  direction.  Xo,  the  native-bom  cannot  flee 
from  the  presence  of  the  foreigner ;  the  best  thing  for  every 
community  is  to  deal  righteously  and  generously  by  him.  Many 
communities  have  not  done  this.  In  Hoquiam,  Wash.,  the 
sentiment  against  the  southeastern  Europeans  was  so  strong 
that  the  "  white  people,"  under  the  leadership  of  a  Christian 
gentleman  (?),  resolved  to  drive  them  out.  The  slogan  on  this 
occasion  was  "  the  foreigners  have  taken  our  jobs."  Some 
Christian  men,  coming  to  the  fore  to  save  the  good  name  of  the 
town,  assured  the  agitators  that  work  would  be  foimd  for  every 
"  white  man  "  displaced  by  the  foreigners.  That  calmed  the 
tempest,  but  the  agitators  would  not  take  the  work  when  it 
was  offered  them  ;  they  preferred  to  Uve  on  inflammable  speech 
which  stirred  up  strife  between  brother  and  brother.  In 


RELATIONS  TO  AMERICANS 


299 


South  Omaha,  one  of  the  most  shameful  riots  ever  known  took 
place  because  of  prejudice  against  the  foreigner.  A  Greek 
went  into  the  house  of  a  young  lady  of  questionable  character, 
and  a  policeman,  following  the  man,  arrested  him  without  any 
overt  cause  whatsoever.  The  Greek  resisted  and,  in  the  scuffle 
which  followed,  the  officer  was  shot.  That  was  Saturday  night. 
The  following  Sunday  morning  as  the  bells  were  ringing,  calling 
men  to  worship,  a  mob  assembled  and,  under  the  leadership  of 
disreputable  fellows,  began  storming  the  Greek  quarters, 
smashing  windows,  breaking  doors,  and  pursuing  the  terror- 
stricken  and  defenseless  Greeks  in  all  directions.  On  the 
corner  of  L  Street  and  24th  Avenue  was  the  firm  of  Demos 
Brothers  —  superior  men  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  one  of  them 
being  married  to  an  American  girl.  This  store  was  several 
blocks  away  from  the  Greek  quarter,  but  on  came  the  raging 
mob,  as  the  surging  tide,  lashed  by  gusts  of  rage  and  passion. 
They  attacked  the  store  at  a  time  when  the  white-haired  mother 
of  the  Demos  Brothers  sat  quietly  at  the  soda  fountain.  They 
smashed  windows,  tore  to  pieces  the  soda  fountain,  strewed  on 
floor  and  street  the  contents  of  windows  and  cases  and  left  that 
place,  which  represented  an  investment  of  more  than  $7000, 
a  mass  of  ruins.  The  brothers  and  their  families  fled  for  life. 
They  had  two  other  stores  in  Omaha,  which  they  immediately 
gave  up,  for  they  knew  not  how  far  this  wave  of  fury,  fanaticism, 
and  savagery  would  sweep,  and  in  a  week,  they  found  them- 
selves reduced  by  mob  violence  in  Christian  America  from  the 
position  of  prosperous  merchants  to  paupers. 

Some  Christians  despise  Foreigners.  —  Instances  of  mob 
violence  against  the  foreigners  are  also  found  in  the  East,  and 
even  the  South  is  not  exempt.  One  of  the  steamship  com- 
panies has  established  a  line  of  steamers  running  to  southern 
ports,  in  the  hope  that  immigrants  landing  there  may  stay  in 
Southern  states  where  labor  is  scarce.  The  experiment  is  not  a 
success.  No  sooner  are  the  immigrants  so  landed  in  possession 
of  enough  money  to  pay  their  passage  north  than  many  of  them 
do  so.  On  board  a  ship,  which  recently  came  from  one  of  the 
Gulf  ports  to  the  port  of  New  York,  were  found  sixty  immigrants 


300 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


who  had  been  in  the  Southern  states  for  less  than  a  year.  A 
passenger,  interested  in  immigration,  asked  the  men,  "  Why 
do  you  leave  the  South?  "  Their  answer  was:  "  We  are  treated 
worse  than  the  negroes.  We  work  from  early  morning  tDl 
night  for  low  wages,  are  fed  wretchedly,  and  are  socially  ostra- 
cized." There  are  many  Christian  organizations  in  the  North 
in  the  immigration  zone  that  beheve  in  giving  a  helping  hand 
to  those  reared  in  heathenism  5000  miles  away,  but  they  mani- 
fest the  greatest  repugnance  in  helping  foreigners,  neighbors, 
who  need  their  sympathy  and  help.  In  one  of  these  Christian 
organizations,  the  official  head  wanted  to  do  something  for  the 
hundreds  of  Italians  who  lived  in  the  neighborhood,  and  who 
were  untouched  by  any  influence  save  that  of  the  saloon,  the 
gambling  den,  the  motion  pictures,  etc.  When  that  Christian 
gentleman  began  work,  the  chairman  of  the  ofl&cial  board  came 
to  him  and  said :  "  I  understand  that  you  are  going  to  open  a 
Dago  ranch  in  this  building.  I  don't  stand  for  that."  The 
secretary  of  a  railroad  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
brought  one  evening  into  the  building  twelve  Danes,  working 
on  the  railroad,  who  had  no  place  to  sleep.  The  Enghsh- 
speaking  men,  imder  the  sway  of  racial  antipathy,  began  to 
object  and  protested  against  the  foreigners  being  brought  in. 
Among  these  newcomers,  however,  was  a  skilled  musician,  who, 
while  the  Americans  were  presenting  their  objections  to  the 
secretary,  began  to  play  upon  the  accordion.  He  discoursed 
sweet  music,  which  soon  had  its  effect.  The  ire  on  the  faces  of 
the  native-born  soon  began  to  vanish  ;  the  censure  died  on  their 
lips  ;  their  hearts  were  softened ;  and  that  night  they  sat  up 
late  listening  to  the  foreigner  playing.  One  of  the  most  sym- 
pathetic hearts  that  ever  prayed  for  men  in  New  England  was 
forced  out  of  his  pulpit,  because  he  did  too  much  for  the  for- 
eigners to  please  his  deacons.  Christians  find  it  hard  to  practice 
what  they  profess  to  beheve  when  the  foreigner  is  the  subject. 

Some  Christians  help  Foreigners.  —  All  Christians  are  not 
infidels  in  action  toward  the  foreigner.  Some  noble-hearted 
men  and  women  are  leading  the  way  in  the  true  spirit  of  the 
Nazarene.    In  the  town  of  New  Britain,  they  celebrated  the 


RELATIONS  TO  AMERICANS 


301 


centenary  of  the  birth  of  Elihu  Burritt  by  a  festival  of  all 
nations.  Seventeen  different  flags  were  entwined  by  represent- 
atives of  seventeen  different  nationalities  at  the  grave  of  that 
linguist  and  Apostle  of  Peace.  Not  a  weapon  of  war  was 
anywhere  seen ;  every  nation  in  this  manufacturing  center  was 
represented ;  never  was  a  more  cosmopolitan  crowd  seen  in  any 
city  on  the  continent,  and  the  crowds  were  serene  and  joyous  as 
a  summer's  day  in  June.  That  is  the  kind  of  amalgam  America 
needs,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that  a  Persian,  who  witnessed 
that  splendid  practical  exhibit  of  the  brotherhood  of  man,  went 
home  and  named  his  new-born  baby  Elihu  Burritt  Baba.  In 
Lorain,  Ohio,  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  wanted 
a  building  and  appealed  to  the  foreigners  for  funds.  Eight 
hundred  men  came  forward  and  gave  from  two  to  three  dollars 
to  the  enterprise.  On  the  corner  of  Division  Street  in  the  North 
End  of  Chicago  stands  a  building  which  has  cost  $300,000. 
It  is  in  the  heart  of  the  Polish  district  and  was  built  by  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  young 
men  of  foreign  parentage.  Among  the  places  worth  while 
visiting  in  New  York  City  are  the  centers  of  light  devoted  to 
work  for  foreigners.  One  of  these,  where  men  of  various  tongues 
come  together  for  instruction,  counsel,  and  help,  has  a  strong 
band  of  earnest  men  working  for  the  uplift  of  the  men  of  the  new 
immigration.  Last  winter,  in  a  building  in  this  same  city, 
there  assembled  representatives  of  twenty-one  different  nation- 
alities for  a  social  evening.  Many  of  the  groups  sang  their 
national  songs,  others  spoke,  all  listened  to  a  stereopticon  lecture 
on  the  "  Master  Builders  of  the  Nation,"  and  all  voices  blended 
in  singing  "  America."  A  leading  foreigner  who  was  present, 
wrote  the  following  morning  as  follows :  "  The  meeting  last 
night  surprised  me  very  much.  I  never  thought  that  here  in 
America  exists  such  an  organization  where  all  nationalities  can 
come  together  under  one  roof  and  express  their  ideas."  Rev. 
Ozora  Davis,  president  of  Chicago  Theological  School,  has  a 
Bible,  which  he  values  most  highly.  It  was  presented  him  at  a 
farewell  dinner,  given  in  his  honor  as  he  left  New  Britain,  and 
the  sacred  book  is  made  still  more  sacred  by  the  fact  that  it 


302 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


represents  the  nickels  of  foreigners  in  that  city,  whom  his  genial 
leadership  had  inspired  to  better  things.  In  Rochester,  N.Y., 
native-born  leadership  has  organized  the  Association  of 
Practical  Housekeeping  Centers,  and  it  sums  up  its  activity 
as  follows:  "  An  American  home  in  a  foreign  neighborhood,  a 
home  that  attempts  to  Uve  up  to  the  best  standard  of  simpUcity, 
cleanliness,  and  comfort,  at  a  minimum  cost.  Mere  example 
is  made  effective  by  systematized  classes  in  housework  among 
the  neighborhood  children,  boys  and  girls,  and  young  women." 
Hundreds  of  other  agents,  working  in  settlements  and  missions, 
in  schools  and  parish  houses,  in  dispensaries  and  milk  depots, 
are  rendering  a  service  for  the  upUft  of  men,  women,  and  children 
of  foreign-speaking  nations,  which  none  can  estimate.  And 
every  sympathetic  patriot  would  hke  to  see  this  work  of  help- 
ing foreigners  grow  into  a  habit  —  a  habit  that  will  permeate 
every  native-born  person  living  in  close  proximity  to  foreign 
communities,  where  the  darkness  and  ignorance  have  lingered 
too  long  and  where  the  forces  of  iniquity  have  had  the  right  of 
way. 

Native-bom  can  Lead.  —  Upon  the  native-born  is  placed  the 
burden  of  this  leadership,  and  especially  upon  the  Christian  men 
and  women  of  this  nation.  When  eighty  spiritual  leaders  of 
a  foreign-speaking  nation  met  in  a  New  England  town,  floating 
the  banner,  "  Our  tongue,  our  nationality,  our  religion,"  they 
represented  a  civilization  that  was  left  on  the  continent  of  the 
old  world  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago.  These  men  hurt 
no  one  as  they  do  themselves.  They  stand  in  their  own  hght. 
When  a  native-born  fool  in  a  national  campaign,  in  the  heart 
of  a  foreign  colony,  tore  down  the  picture  of  one  of  the  presi- 
dential candidates  and  tramped  upon  it,  he  violated  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  democracy  and  wronged  these  "  coming 
Americans."  When  John  Most,  editor  of  the  Freiheirt,  was 
brought  before  the  court  for  publishing  articles  which  incited 
lawlessness  and  riot,  his  chief  defense  was  to  present  to  court 
articles,  cartoons,  and  epithets,  from  one  of  the  leading  journals 
of  the  land,  owned  and  edited  by  native-born  men,  which  were 
more  inflammable  than  anything  he  ever  printed.  Thousands 


RELATIONS  TO  AMERICANS 


of  these  men  come  to  America  asking  for  bread  and  are  given  a 
stone.  They  take  the  standards  of  the  shiftless  and  degenerate 
and,  conforming  to  these,  they  imagine  themselves  "  coming 
Americans."  The  fact  is  that  many  of  them  are,  in  less  than 
six  months,  worse  than  when  they  landed.  Whether  or  not 
they  become  vicious,  profane,  coarse,  and  sensual,  depends 
largely  upon  the  environment,  and  its  character  depends  more 
upon  the  native-born  than  the  foreign-born.  Would  that  these 
men  could  see  democracy  in  America  in  its  true  light  —  that 
democracy  that  has  added  a  new  ethical  significance  to  the 
home,  a  new  poHtical  importance  to  the  individual,  a  new 
educational  standard  for  the  wards  of  the  nation,  a  new  relation 
between  employer  and  employee  in  industrial  life,  and  a  new 
basis  for  the  religious  hfe  of  man.  How  few  foreigners  become 
conscious  of  these  truths  when  they  settle  in  our  cities  !  How 
few  loyal  Americans  beUeve  that  it  is  genuine  patriotism  to 
bring  before  the  mind  and  heart  of  this  foreign  brother  the  right 
types  of  manhood  and  womanhood  that  have  made  America 
what  it  is  in  the  history  of  the  world  ! 

A  Glorious  Heritage.  —  In  line  with  this  idea  would  it  not  be 
well  for  Americans  to  choose  a  list  of  men  and  women  who  have 
been  leaders  in  all  that  is  excellent  and  good  in  the  life  of  the 
nation,  and  bring  out  the  characteristics  of  these  leaders,  and 
lay  them  as  models  before  every  foreign  colony  in  the  land? 
No  nation  living  has  a  better  heritage  of  glorious  men  and 
women  who  have  made  the  nation  what  it  is.  It  is  a  storehouse 
from  which  we  can  draw  richest  hues  of  mental  and  moral  worth 
to  adorn  this  raw  material,  coming  from  the  backward  countries 
of  Europe.  The  makers  of  the  West,  the  captains  of  industry, 
the  princes  of  merchandise  and  commerce,  the  statesmen  and 
diplomats,  the  masters  of  education,  the  inventors  and  authors, 
the  scientists  and  discoverers,  the  musicians  and  poets  —  all 
these  were  men  and  women  who  made  America,  and  they  rise 
high  above  the  mass  of  common  men,  as  mountains  rise  from 
the  plains,  because  they  had  in  them  the  qualities  that  endure 
and  make  for  progress.  And  it  is  these  qualities  we  want  to 
emphasize  and  bring  out,  so  that  every  foreigner  may  emulate 


304 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


them.  When  immigrants  return  to  the  fatherland,  they  take  some 
mementoes  with  them  from  America.  Many  pictures  of  Wash- 
ington and  Lincoln  adorn  Slavic  and  Magyar,  Italian  and  Greek 
homes  across  the  seas,  and  we  can  well  imagine  how  the  few 
facts  each  foreigner  loves  to  tell  about  their  lives  thrill  the  hearts 
of  men  who  have  long  felt  the  tyrant's  heel  and  the  serf's  thraldom. 
Every  leader  in  the  nation's  history  has  in  him  the  magnetic 
touch  to  quicken  into  new  life  the  dormant  energies  of  the  peoples 
of  southeastern  Europe. 

Mixture  means  Strength.  —  Charles  Kingsley  once  said 
that  "  the  physical  and  intellectual  superiority  of  the  high-born 
is  only  preserved  as  it  was  in  the  old  Norman  times,  by  the  con- 
tinual practical  abnegation  of  the  very  caste  lie  in  which  they 
pride  themselves,  by  continual  renovation  of  their  race  by 
intermarriage  with  the  rank  below  them.  The  blood  of  Odin 
flowed  in  the  veins  of  Norman  William,  true  —  and  so  did  the 
tanner's  of  Falaise."  In  no  country  has  this  been  tested  as  in 
America,  and  the  vigor,  aggressiveness,  ingenuity,  and  enterprise 
of  these  United  States,  whose  progress  and  achievements  have 
astonished  the  world,  are  partly  due  to  the  commingling  of 
bloods  on  this  continent.  The  new  immigration  may  come 
from  backward  covmtries,  but  the  words  of  Dr.  Charles  W. 
Eliot  are  well  worth  remembering :  "  Many  illiterates  have 
common  sense,  sound  bodies,  and  good  characteristics.  Indeed, 
it  is  not  clear  that  education  increases  much  the  amount  of 
common  sense  which  nature  gave  the  individual."  Americans 
who  proclaim  that  we  get  the  dregs  of  Europe  do  not  tell  the 
truth.  The  most  enterprising,  daring,  brave,  and  strong  sons  of 
Bulgaria  and  Macedonia,  of  Croatia  and  Servia  come  to  us 
to-day,  as  did  the  best  blood  of  Ireland,  Scandinavia,  and  Ger- 
many come  to  America  about  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Never  in  the  history  of  the  world  have  the  weakest 
and  frailest  been  sent  to  look  over  the  nature  of  a  new  country. 
It  is  the  Calebs  and  the  Joshuas  that  lead  the  way  and  send  back 
home  the  news  of  prosperity  and  hope.  That  is  the  case  with 
the  new  immigration,  and  Americans  need  not  fear  that  these 
elements,  thrown  into  the  caldron,  will   produce  degeneracy 


RELATIONS  TO  AMERICANS 


and  deterioration  any  more  than  the  elements  of  the  old  immi-  \ 
gration  did. 

Give  the  Foreigners  American  Ideals.  —  As  this  foreigner 
goes  into  the  caldron,  let  us  see  to  it  that  he  is  saturated  with 
what  Lester  F.  Ward  calls  the  Zeitgeist,  "  the  sum  of  such  ideas 
in  any  country  which  He  below  doubt,  question,  schism,  or  dis- 
cussion, such  as  democracy  in  government,  separation  of  church 
and  state,  etc.,  in  America."  This  heritage  of  ideas  and  ideals 
which  is  of  greater  value  than  the  ore  of  the  hills  or  the  products 
of  the  plains ;  this  psychical  and  moral  atmosphere  of  America 
which  has  been  created  by  the  efforts  and  sacrifices  of  men  who 
bequeathed  to  subsequent  generations  priceless  treasures  in  the 
institutions  they  established  for  the  government  of  a  free 
people  —  these  we  want  the  foreigner  to  feel  and  perceive. 
When  the  foreigners  bring  into  a  community  a  saloon  for  every 
one  hundred  persons,  —  men,  women  and  children  —  the  spirit 
of  America  suffers  violence  in  that  town,  and  the  foreigners 
should  be  made  to  feel  that  the  saloon  is  not  an  American  institu- 
tion. When  rum  is  given  this  prominence  in  community  life, 
the  freedom  established  by  a  free  people  is  abused,  and  the  men 
who  abuse  the  freedom  cannot  measure  up  to  the  opportunity 
offered  them,  but  will  become  a  drag  upon  our  civilization.  If 
foreigners  send  their  children  to  work  in  violation  of  the  laws  of 
the  state,  every  patriot  should  rise  up  and  protest,  for  it  is  a 
menace  to  our  democracy  to  permit  its  wards  to  be  stunted  in 
mind  and  body,  to  gratify  the  greed  of  ignorant  parents  and  the 
selfishness  of  operators.  When  foreigners  hide  the  criminal 
and  speed  his  escape,  the  American  spirit  must  come  to  the  fore 
to  teach  these  men  that  their  action  strikes  at  the  very  founda- 
tion of  government,  and  that  the  safety  of  property  and  hfe 
depends  upon  every  man  in  the  Republic  being  a  committee 
of  one  in  defense  of  law  and  order.  If  foreigners,  by  a  low 
standard  of  hving  and  the  acceptance  of  a  low  wage,  threaten 
the  comfort  and  efficiency  of  American  workers,  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  social  conscience  to  make  the  foreigner  feel  that  the 
safety  of  America  lies  in  preserving  a  standard  of  living  which 
enables  men  to  live  according  to  the  demands  of  the  twentieth 

X 


3o6 


TEE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


century.  If  this  brother  and  his  family  live  in  dirty  homes 
which  threaten  the  health  of  the  community,  the  American 
spirit  demands  that  he  should  give  attention  to  his  relation  to 
the  community  and  learn  how  to  contribute  to  its  health  and  not 
to  its  death.  If  in  his  religious  Ufe  his  rights  are  not  recognized, 
then  it  is  the  duty  of  Americans  to  make  known  to  the  man  his 
rights,  and  help  him  to  realize  true  religious  hberty.  And  when 
this  man  is  saturated  with  the  axioms  of  Ufe,  as  laid  down  by 
public  opinion  and  the  Zeitgeist  in  America,  we  can  rest  assured 
that  he  will  be  a  safe  element  to  add  to  the  caldron  for  the 
making  of  the  American  of  to-morrow. 

Contrast.  —  The  true  American  is  not  here ;  he  is  yet  in  the 
making.  We  are  a  young  nation.  A  hundred  years  is  as  yester- 
day in  the  life  of  races  of  men,  and  the  day  is  coming  when 
these  United  States  will  be  made  up  of  better  men  and  women, 
whose  vision  will  be  far  clearer  than  that  of  those  now  living. 
But  the  future  citizen  of  this  Republic  will  not  be  produced 
by  chance,  he  must  be  the  creation  of  telic  action.  It  is  impor- 
tant that  the  ideals  and  the  achievements  of  the  past  be  main- 
tained, but  they  will  not  long  be  retained  if  we  do  not  advance 
to  still  higher  heights.  When  a  typical  American  town  is 
visited,  we  come  face  to  face  with  what  America  means  to 
civilization.  The  streets  are  clean,  the  homes  are  well  kept, 
the  yards  and  lawns  are  cared  for,  the  gardens  are  full  of  flowers. 
The  church  and  school  are  centers  of  hght,  the  public  library 
is  well  patronized,  Uterature  comes  to  the  homes,  and  the  children 
are  trained  in  the  ways  of  virtue  and  decency.  Crime  is  seldom 
heard  of,  the  saloon  is  not  tolerated,  the  officers  of  the  law  are 
appointed,  but  have  little  to  do,  and  the  prison  cell  is  empty. 
That  is  the  character  of  towns  which  are  true  to  the  American 
type.  I  have  lived  in  towns  of  very  different  character  —  towTis 
in  which  the  saloon  was  the  most  popular  of  all  institutions  and 
where  no  public  library  was  found ;  places  where  the  executive 
officers  of  the  law  were  kept  busy  and  the  prison  cell  too  small 
to  hold  the  criminals ;  where  churches  were  few  and  the  schools 
inferior  in  every  way ;  where  the  streets  were  filthy  and  garbage 
thrown  everywhere ;  where  the  houses  were  not  drained  and 


RELATIONS  TO  AMERICANS 


the  streets  not  lighted ;  where  the  children  were  ill-washed,  ill- 
fed,  and  ill-clothed.  Two  towns,  such  as  above  described,  are 
in  the  same  commonwealth,  and  the  difference  between  them 
is  the  sum  of  the  difference  between  American  and  Russian 
civilization.  The  inferior  civiUzation  is  an  anachronism  in 
America ;  it  is  here  because  we  have  largely  left  these  people  to 
themselves.  When  agencies  of  amehoration  are  brought  to 
bear  upon  these  patches  of  backward  Europe  in  America,  they 
yield  to  treatment  and  appear  clothed  anew,  and  men  in  their 
right  mind  move  Godward.  This  amelioration  can  be  insti- 
tuted in  every  community  where  foreigners  live. 

Preserve  the  Civilization.  —  It  cannot  be  emphasized  too 
strongly  or  repeated  too  often  that  we  must  look  to  Americans 
for  the  preservation  of  American  ci\ilization.  There  is  no 
holier  duty,  no  more  sacred  mission  given  to  the  heirs  of  the 
founders  of  this  democracy  than  that  of  transmitting  in  its 
integrity  the  heritage  of  ethnic  endowment  gained  by  the  white 
men  through  generations  of  struggle,  toil,  and  suffering.  Hu- 
manity is  looking  to  the  United  States  to  lead  on  to  that  better 
day  when  pestilence  shall  cease,  when  the  ills  of  Ufe  are  reduced 
by  science  to  a  minimimi,  when  we  shaU  obey  nature  and 
secure  that  immunity  from  ills  that  will  add  to  the  peace  of  home 
and  the  prosperity  of  the  nation,  and  when  men  shall  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  their  labor  without  the  fear  of  war  and  the  curse  of 
poverty.  But  this  better  day  wiU  not  dawn  for  humanity  if 
we  leave  the  miUions  of  southeastern  Europe  to  themselves,  or, 
worse  still,  to  the  demoralizing  forces  of  the  saloon,  the  gambler, 
and  the  sinister  poUtician.  The  very  progress  of  civilization 
demands  that  we  give  this  man  the  best  that  is  in  us,  that  we 
may  preserve  the  best  that  was  bequeathed  us. 


CHAPTER  XXI 


REACHING  THE  NEWCOMER 

No  branch  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  has  an  opportunity 
like  that  afforded  Americans  who  Uve  in  industrial  communities 
in  the  United  States  to  study  a  group  of  nations  that  is  inter- 
esting and  edifying.  Take  the  small  town  of  Proctor,  Vt., 
not  more  than  three  thousand  inhabitants,  and  in  it  are  found 
representatives  of  sixteen  different  nationaUties.  If  any  man, 
residing  among  the  foreign-speaking,  wants  a  broad  education, 
let  him  study  the  nations  represented  in  his  community.  The 
history  of  man  will  be  better  understood  if  it  is  studied  in  the 
light  of  the  background  of  these  several  nations.  Each  race  is 
the  product  of  generations  of  struggle  and  conflict,  and  its 
physical  characteristics  and  mental  endowments  can  be  explained 
only  by  recognizing  the  forces  which  have  made  the  country 
whence  they  come  what  it  is. 

Study  Each  Nation.  —  It  is  a  mistake  to  imagine  that  when 
one  of  the  races  of  southeastern  Europe  is  studied,  we  know  all 
the  rest.  Each  people,  each  race  must  be  studied  by  itself,  and 
the  student  should  lay  aside  all  bias  and  bigotry  and  beUeve  with 
Brinton,  "  that  no  matter  what  metaphysics  say,  any  nation, 
as  any  man,  may  lift  itself  by  recognition  of  those  indefeasible 
and  universal  elements  of  the  mind,  the  '  I,'  the  '  ought,  '  and 
the  '  can  '  —  the  reverence  of  self,  the  respect  for  duty,  and  the 
devotion  to  freedom."  When  this  is  done,  there  \\-ill  be  found 
in  every  people  some  good ;  every  foreign  colony  will  be  found  to 
be  made  up  of  men  and  women,  and  the  good  and  bad  quaUties 
found  in  the  average  English-speaking  colony  will  also  be  found 
in  it. 

Know  Your  Town.  —  It  is  surprising  how  ignorant  the  aver- 
age community  is  of  the  foreign  colony  in  its  neighborhood.  A 

308 


REACHING  THE  NEWCOMER  309 

gentleman  who  was  much  interested  in  his  town,  when  asked, 
"  How  many  Lithuanians  have  you  here?"  looked  stupid  and 
said,  "What  did  you  say?"  I  repeated  the  question  and  he 
said,  "  Never  heard  of  that  people,"  and  yet  there  were  3000 
of  them  in  the  city.  When  a  business  man  in  another  town  was 
asked,  "  How  many  Poles  have  you  in  town?  "  he  said,  "  I'm 
not  sure ;  the  electric  people  have  a  couple  of  hundred,  and  a  new 
company  is  putting  some  down."  I  said,  "  I  don't  mean  poles, 
but  Polish  people."  "Oh,  I  don't  know;  they're  no  good." 
When  the  ItaUans  of  the  city  of  Dayton  turned  out  to  celebrate 
Columbus  Day,  about  300  men  were  in  line  and  the  citizens  became 
conscious  that  they  had  a  colony  of  2000  Itahans  in  the  city. 
In  a  town  of  30,000  inhabitants  in  New  York  State,  the  foreigners 
formed  one-third  of  the  population,  but  the  change  had  gone  on 
so  quickly  and  unobservedly  that  most  of  the  leading  citizens 
had  but  a  faint  idea  of  it.  The  Poles,  however,  sent  a  petition  to 
the  council,  requesting  that  one  of  their  people  be  appointed  on 
the  poUce  force ;  then,  in  a  short  while,  the  Italians  demanded  an 
official  interpreter,  and  this  request  was  soon  followed  by  a 
similar  one  from  the  Lithuanians.  These  petitions  brought  the 
fact  home  to  the  native-born  of  the  town  that  the  foreigners 
had  rights  which  they  wanted  the  town  to  recognize.  It  would 
have  been  better  for  that  community  to  have  studied  the  com- 
plex condition  of  its  population,  and  meet  the  needs  of  these  men 
in  an  intelligent  and  sympathetic  way. 

Scientific  Investigation.  —  The  movement  "  Know  your 
neighborhood  "  ought  to  commend  itself  to  every  community. 
Cities  which  have  followed  out  the  program  outlined  by  the 
leaders  of  this  work  have  been  surprised  what  a  little  scientific 
investigation  reveals.  When  the  facts  brought  out  by  the  Pitts- 
burgh Survey  were  put  before  some  of  the  good  people  of  the 
"  Smoky  City,"  they  said,  "  These  things  cannot  be  true  " ; 
but  when  they  began  to  look  the  facts  in  the  face,  they  became 
convinced  that  all  was  not  told  —  that  it  was  actually  worse 
than  the  report  stated.  When  carefully  gathered  facts  about 
housing  conditions,  crowding,  sanitation,  and  social  vice  have 
been  presented  to  committees  of  respectable  citizens,  they  pro- 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


test,  saying,  "We  think  you  are  mistaken  ;  our  town  is  respect- 
able, and  what  you  say  cannot  exist  in  it."  They  don't  know 
their  town ;  they  don't  know  how  the  other  half  lives ;  they  have 
left  municipal  affairs  in  the  hands  of  professional  poHticians, 
who  were  careful  to  have  all  things  decent  and  well-ordered  in  the 
residential  part  of  the  town,  but  the  tenements  or  congested  quar- 
ters, where  the  foreigners  hved,  were  left  to  filth,  disease,  and 
death.  The  experience  of  Confucius  can  be  repeated  in  every 
industrial  city  in  the  immigration  zone.  The  sons  of  wealth 
and  luxury,  the  heirs  of  ease  and  ennui,  will  find  in  congested 
parts  of  industrial  towns,  filth  and  disease,  sickness  and  death, 
and  men  and  women  living  under  conditions  that  are  inhuman. 
The  first  step  in  uplift  work  for  immigrants  is  to  find  out  the  facts, 
know  how  they  five,  what  are  their  housing  conditions,  what 
they  eat,  see  and  know  whether  "  many  of  them  Uve  on  food 
which  a  respectable  man  would  not  give  to  his  dog,"  find  out 
the  truth  about  the  boarding  house,  the  prevalence  of  disease, 
and  the  death  record.  These  things  can  only  be  found  out  by 
knowing  our  neighborhood. 

The  Way  Facts  are  Gathered.  —  There  are  men,  in  every 
town  having  a  foreign  colony,  interested  in  foreigners,  and  many, 
on  their  own  responsibility,  take  a  glimpse  into  the  foreign  quar- 
ter to  see  what  kind  of  a  place  it  is.  Some  Christian  and  secular 
organizations,  such  as  young  people's  societies,  the  laymen's 
movement,  Bible  classes,  committees  of  philanthropic  and  chari- 
table organizations,  have  attempted  investigations  and  tabulated 
results,  which,  through  lack  of  proper  leadership  and  training, 
come  short  of  what  the  trained  investigator  wants  to  know. 
Settlement  houses  have  given  us  valuable  studies  of  foreign 
colonies,  while  organized  charities  have  conducted  many  investi- 
gations in  cities  where  the  foreigners  reside.  Each  of  these 
plans  can  furnish  valuable  information,  but  the  best  way  is  to 
secure  an  expert  investigator,  organize  a  committee  and  enUst  a 
corps  of  assistants,  map  out  a  definite  program  and  carry  it  out 
systematically. 

One  Organizer.  —  A  gentlemen,  in  New  York  City,  who  does 
excellent  work  among  Italians,  stands  alone.    He  organized  a 


REACHING  THE  NEWCOMER 


3" 


club  for  young  men  by  going  into  the  Italian  section  of  the  city, 
joining  a  group  of  young  men  on  the  street  corner  and  proposing  to 
secure  for  them  a  place  to  meet  where  they  could  bring  their 
men  friends.  He  has  a  flourishing  club  and  keeps  it  going,  but 
the  organization  has  recently  drifted  into  the  hands  of  English- 
speaking  Italians  who  passed  a  by-law  that  no  one  could  join 
the  club  unless  he  understood  and  spoke  the  English  language. 
One  can  readily  see  how  the  work  of  this  sympathetic  individ- 
ualist could  be  strengthened  if  an  organized  effort  were  made 
to  multiply  the  service  he  can  render. 

Young  People  can  Investigate.  —  In  the  city  of  Cleveland, 
Mr.  David  E.  Green,  then  connected  with  the  young  people's 
organization  of  evangelical  churches,  made  a  study  of  foreign 
Cleveland  and  published  the  result  in  pamphlet  form.  That 
production  stimulated  many  of  the  religious  organizations  of  the 
town  to  attempt  definite  work  for  foreigners.  One  of  the  results 
of  the  investigation  was  the  selection  of  a  young  man  to  work 
among  foreigners.  Among  other  things  he  found  Armenians 
in  the  hands  of  base  leaders,  catering  to  everything  that  was 
degrading,  while  the  men  of  respect  and  character,  having  com- 
mon sense  and  moral  worth,  kept  in  the  background  and  were 
ignored.  When  the  American  worker  appeared,  they  came  to 
the  fore,  formed  a  nucleus  around  which  the  respectable  could 
rally,  and,  being  taken  under  the  shelter  of  a  strong  church 
organization  not  far  from  the  colony,  the  advocates  of  decency 
and  purity  were  able  to  hold  their  own  against  the  forces  of 
degeneracy. 

A  Committee  at  Work.  —  A  good  illustration  of  the  third 
method  of  investigation  is  the  work  done  by  Mr.  John  Daniels, 
in  Buffalo.  He  organized  a  committee  of  the  leading  citizens, 
secured  a  budget,  enlisted  a  corps  of  helpers,  prescribed  the 
territory,  and  marked  out  carefully  the  lines  of  investigation. 
Thus,  under  the  leadership  of  this  trained  investigator,  the  Polish 
section  of  the  city  was  studied,  the  facts  tabulated,  and  then 
presented  in  an  interesting  form  to  the  patriots  of  that  city. 
Of  course,  they  were  startled,  many  facts  were  revelations, 
and  they  became  conscious  that  they  had  a  serious  problem 


312 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


on  hand.  The  investigation  has  led  to  constructive  work,  a 
committee  of  patriotic  citizens  have  taken  up  the  problems 
of  Poland  in  Buffalo,  and  agencies  are  at  work  to  bring  about 
reforms. 

Serve  One  People  Well. — If  an  individual  resolves  to  do  work 
among  the  foreigners,  his  best  plan  is  to  select  one  people  and 
serve  it.  He  ought  to  know  something  about  the  history  of 
that  race,  study  its  characteristics,  adapt  his  work  to  its  needs, 
be  patient  and  persevering,  and  always  keep  clear  in  mind  the 
service  he  wants  to  render.  A  young  man,  who  attended  a  meet- 
ing where  the  problem  of  the  foreigners  was  discussed,  became 
so  enthused  that  he  resolved,  before  he  left  the  hall,  to  try  to  do 
something  to  help  the  foreigner.  A  group  of  Greeks,  working 
on  railroad  construction,  was  located  within  two  miles  of  the  town 
in  which  he  lived,  and  this  became  the  scene  of  the  experiment. 
He  knew  nothing  of  the  people,  had  no  plan  of  approach,  had 
nothing  to  offer  the  men  that  was  worth  while,  and  in  less  than 
two  weeks  he  became  a  laughing  stock  to  the  foreigners  in  the 
camp.  Another  man,  Uving  within  a  few  miles  of  a  camp  of  Mace- 
donians, felt  that  he  ought  to  do  something  for  the  men.  He 
went  to  the  camp,  fovmd  the  foreman  and  told  him  his  plan, 
came  in  touch  with  the  "  straw  "  boss,  and  took  him  into  his 
confidence.  Within  a  week  the  major  part  of  the  camp  was 
in  a  class,  studying  English,  and  on  Sundays  they  had  phono- 
graphic concerts.  That  young  man  is  the  Ught  of  that  camp. 
When  the  foreign-born  yoimg  men  come  to  town,  they  call  on 
their  teacher  in  his  home,  and  his  wife  says  "  they  are  nice 
and  gentle,  they  talk  low  and  are  courteous,  and  they  never 
bring  in  dirt."  It  is  possible  to  do  good  work  standing  alone. 
Another  man  helped  a  Greek  by  simple  acts  of  kindness.  That 
son  of  Ionia  has  entered  the  candy  business,  and  the  American 
cannot  pass  his  store  but  he  is  detained  and  a  box  of  candy  thrust 
into  his  pocket.  In  another  city,  the  foreigners  found  consider- 
able difficulty  in  getting  insurance  on  their  bmldings,  for  the 
fire  insurance  companies  did  not  care  to  take  the  risk.  They 
consulted  an  American  leader  —  a  man  who  sympathized  with 
them.    He  set  to  work,  foimd  a  company  wiUing  to  take  the  risk, 


REACHING  THE  NEWCOMER 


and  put  the  business  in  the  hand  of  a  trustworthy  young  for- 
eigner. 

The  Work  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  —  One  of  the  best-organized 
efforts  to  reach  the  foreigners  is  carried  on  by  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association.  The  work  is  begun  in  European  ports, 
eleven  of  which  are  manned  by  representatives  of  this  organiza- 
tion. They  pay  special  attention  to  young  men  coming  to 
North  America,  advise  them  as  to  baggage  and  accommoda- 
tions, distribute  hterature  bearing  upon  the  United  States  or 
Canada,  according  to  the  destination  of  the  passengers,  and 
give  cards  of  introduction  —  printed  in  twenty-two  different 
languages  —  to  the  secretaries  of  organized  branches  in  the  cities 
of  North  America.  That  is  the  first  impression  made  on  the 
immigrant  as  he  leaves  Europe.  In  seven  ports  of  landing  on 
the  Atlantic,  eleven  representatives  work  among  the  immi- 
grants, and  serve  them  in  every  possible  way.  They  help  them 
to  locate  their  baggage,  to  change  their  money,  to  send  word  to 
friends  and  relatives,  to  find  friends,  take  them  to  boats  and 
railroads,  visit  the  sick  in  the  hospital,  comfort  the  detained,  and 
give  every  man,  who  wishes,  a  card  of  introduction  to  the  secre- 
tary of  the  organization  in  the  city  to  which  the  immigrant  goes. 
These  representatives,  in  the  ports  of  embarkation  in  Europe, 
and  in  those  of  landing  on  the  Atlantic,  touch  5000  young  men 
of  twenty-one  different  tongues  each  month,  and  more  than  500 
branches  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  serve  the 
men  in  one  way  or  another.  The  following  instance  is  typical 
of  the  service  rendered  by  secretaries  to  men  of  the  new  immi- 
gration. Michael  Wisnienski,  a  Pole,  came  to  Pittsburgh.  He 
presented  his  card,  printed  in  Polish,  at  the  association  building, 
and  the  immigration  secretary  gave  him  attention.  He  helped 
him  to  find  his  friends  and,  in  two  days,  was  able  to  find  him  a  job 
in  one  of  the  mills.  He  was  then  put  into  a  class  for  the  study 
of  English,  which  was  located  nearest  the  place  where  he  Uved. 
The  man  was  thus  tied  up  to  friends  whom  he  could  trust,  and 
to  these  he  came  in  all  his  difficulties.  He  wanted  to  send 
money  to  the  homeland,  write  letters  to  his  family,  and  ask 
advice  about  his  work  and  various  other  topics,  and  the  service 


314 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


was  freely  given.  A  young  man  recently  going  to  Rochester, 
N.Y.,  was  robbed  of  $60  on  the  Battery.  Fortunately 
he  had  his  ticket  and  so  reached  the  city.  He  went  to  the 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  and  the  secretary  was  able  to  help  him  to  board  and 
lodging,  find  work  for  him,  and  give  him  a  start  in  a  new  country. 

Work  in  Canada.  —  This  work  is  done  by  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  in  Canada  as  well  as  in  the  United  States. 
The  secretary  at  the  port  of  Quebec  met  seven  Norwegians  who 
came  to  join  a  vessel  on  which  they  were  employed.  They 
could  not  find  the  vessel  anywhere  and  knew  not  what  to  do. 
The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  immigration  secretary  in  that  port  came  to 
their  aid.  He  communicated  with  the  signal  service,  and  found 
out  that  the  vessel  would  not  be  in  for  two  days.  The  men  did 
not  have  a  cent  of  money  and  knew  not  where  to  go.  The 
secretary,  on  a  Sunday  morning,  took  them  to  the  home  of  the 
Norwegian  consul,  who  proxided  for  their  entertainment  until 
the  vessel  came  to  port.  When  the  secretary  left  them,  they 
kissed  his  hand  and  thanked  him  profusely.  Associations,  in- 
land, try  to  come  into  touch  with  recently  arrived  immigrants, 
and  much  of  the  work  done  is  a  surprise  to  the  newcomers.  A 
Greek  was  met  by  the  representative  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  on  Elhs 
Island  and  given  a  card  of  introduction  to  the  branch  in  Oak- 
land, Cal.  He  was  not  in  town  two  days  before  one  of  the 
employed  officers  of  the  association  branch  called  to  see  him. 
There  was  no  man  more  surprised  and  yet  more  glad  than  the 
Greek  himself.  He  was  pleased  to  find  that  some  one  in  America 
was  taking  an  interest  in  him.  When  we  returned  about  ten 
o'clock  to  the  hotel  in  Berwick,  Pa.,  after  a  meeting  with  a  group 
of  foreigners,  we  met  a  man,  wife,  and  child  wandering  in  the 
foreign  colony.  They  were  immigrants,  and  as  we  passed  them 
the  man  addressed  us  in  his  native  tongue,  asking  where  his 
friend  lived.  One  of  the  party  understood  him  and  returned 
with  the  immigrants  in  quest  of  their  friend.  They  called  up 
every  saloon-keeper  in  the  foreign  colony,  and  not  before  mid- 
night was  the  friend  located.  When  they  awoke  the  family 
and  the  friends  long  parted  were  joined,  the  joy  of  the  meeting 
was  ample  compensation  for  the  trouble  taken. 


REACHING  THE  NEWCOMER 


Foreigners  are  followed  Up.  —  Hundreds  of  instances  of  this 
character  of  service  could  be  given,  and  they  are  rendered  by 
more  than  500  men  scattered  in  the  cities  to  which  the  immigrants 
go,  and  through  the  agency  of  an  organization  estabhshed  in 
many  counties  some  of  these  men  are  followed  into  rural  com- 
munities, put  in  touch  with  a  friend  whom  they  can  consult, 
and  who  plays  the  part  of  a  brother  to  them.  There  are  more 
than  17,000  foreign-speaking  men  organized  into  classes  study- 
ing EngUsh  by  a  system  specially  adapted  to  teach  them  in  a 
practical  and  interesting  way;  as  their  knowledge  of  English 
advances,  they  are  taught  civics,  history,  and  the  principles  of 
hygiene.  A  class  of  fourteen  men  applied  for  citizenship  in 
Lake  Coimty,  Ohio,  and  every  one  of  them  passed  the  examina- 
tion, and  the  judge,  complimenting  the  men,  said,  "  It  is  the 
most  satisfactory  examination  I  ever  conducted  for  naturaliza- 
tion." The  class  was  organized  in  a  nursery,  taught  by  a  native- 
bom  clerk,  an  employee  of  the  concern,  who  volunteered  his 
services  to  help  the  men.  In  twelve  of  our  colleges  no  fewer 
than  1000  students  have  volunteered  their  services  to  teach 
foreigners  in  the  cities  in  which  the  colleges  are  located,  and  by 
their  services  thousands  of  newcomers  have  been  helped.  In 
the  three  states  of  Massachusetts,  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania, 
more  than  75,000  foreigners  were  brought  together  to  see  and 
hear  stereopticon  lectures  on  American  history,  master  builders 
of  the  nation,  government,  Washington,  Lincoln,  personal  and 
social  hygiene,  etc.  Whenever  lectures  are  given  to  audiences  of 
foreign-speaking  men,  interpreters  are  employed ;  in  some  in- 
stances three  men  speak  simultaneously,  each  interpreting  to  his 
own  people. 

Lectures  to  Foreigners.  —  In  the  city  of  Scranton,  last  winter, 
900  foreigners  assembled  in  the  Pro\ddence  Armory  to  see  and 
hear  a  lecture  on  "  Mine  Accidents  and  their  Causes."  The 
slides  were  prepared  at  the  suggestion  of  Col.  R.  A.  Phillips,  gen- 
eral superintendent  of  the  Delaware,  Lackawanna  &  Western 
Coal  Co.  The  lecture  was  interpreted  by  a  Pole  and  a  Lithu- 
anian. The  hall  was  full  and  the  foreign-born  sat  there  patiently 
for  an  hour  and  a  half,  Ustening  intently  to  the  explanation  and 


3i6 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


watcliing  the  pictures.  It  was  an  evening  of  profit,  for  the  men 
saw  how  accidents  occurred  and  how  they  could  be  prevented. 
In  Wilmerding,  Pa.,  the  immigration  secretary  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  arranged  v-ith  some  Italian  women 
to  give  an  ItaUan  dinner  in  one  of  the  churches.  It  was  done  with 
taste  and  judgment,  and  those  who  partook  of  the  feast  have 
ever  since  had  a  higher  opinion  of  the  ItaUans.  In  Cambridge, 
Mass.,H.  M.  Gerry,  the  educational  director,  planned  a  mock  elec- 
tion in  which  the  foreigners  took  part.  They  met  in  caucus,  the 
parties  chose  the  ticket,  they  carried  on  the  canvass,  they  voted 
for  the  candidates,  and  the  chosen  ones  were  properly  inaugurated. 
The  men  were  well  satisfied  and  aflttrmed  that  the  mock  election 
had  taught  them  more  about  our  form  of  government  and  how 
to  vote  than  they  could  be  taught  in  any  other  way.  In  Aurora, 
111.,  representatives  of  seven  different  nationaUties  met  at  dinner 
and  exchanged  greetings  —  seven  different  tongues  being  used 
on  the  occasion.  Men  of  different  nationaUties,  brought  to- 
gether in  this  way,  touch  each  other ;  care  is  also  taken  to  bring 
the  sjTnpathetic  and  warm-hearted  men  and  women  of  native 
birth  to  the  gathering,  for  the  sooner  the  consciousness  of  a 
common  brotherhood  grips  the  foreign-  and  the  native-bom, 
the  better  it  is  for  the  commimity  and  the  nation. 

North  American  Civic  League.  —  The  North  American  Civic 
League  for  Immigrants  is  also  doing  a  great  work  for  the  men  of 
the  new  immigration;  its  president,  D.  Chauncey  Brewer,  is  a 
man  of  great  insight  into  the  problem  and  is  moved  to  action  by 
patriotic  motives.  The  League  is  rendering  good  service  in 
quickening  the  pubUc  schools  to  greater  efforts  to  meet  the  need 
of  immigrants;  by  urging  the  establishment  of  night  schools  in 
foreign  colonies ;  and  by  planning  means  by  which  those  anxious 
for  the  pri\'ileges  of  citizenship  may  be  instructed.  The  League 
also  prepares  literature  on  immigration  to  quicken  the  interest 
of  patriotic  men ;  it  calls  attention  to  the  need  of  special  types 
of  service  to  help  the  foreigner  adjust  his  life  to  America ;  and  in 
season  and  out  of  season,  it  virges  the  duty  and  obligation  of 
assimilating  the  foreigners.  The  organization  has  also  urged 
the  importance  of  securing  reUable  interpreters  for  the  covirts 


REACHING  THE  NEWCOMER 


SO  that  justice  can  be  done  to  the  foreigner  standing  trial  or 
seeking  his  rights  in  the  courts  of  the  land.  The  League  has 
rendered  an  excellent  service  in  the  port  of  New  York  City  by 
running  down  men  who  thrived  upon  the  ignorance  and  creduhty 
of  the  newcomers.  It  has  organized  an  agency  which  fiirnishes 
men,  at  a  low  cost,  to  guide  the  immigrants  landing  on  the 
Battery  to  their  destination  in  Greater  New  York.  Hence  scores 
of  immigrants  are  guarded  from  exploitation.  The  League,  in 
these  efforts,  has  done  good  promotion  work  as  well  as  actual 
service  for  immigrants ;  its  poUce  work  has  been  excellent ;  it 
has  stimulated  legislative  measures  and  established  ameUorat- 
ing  centers ;  it  has  coordinated  public  agencies  interested  in  the 
foreigner  and  has  led  the  way  in  many  types  of  service. 

Other  Agencies  at  Work.  —  Chicago  also  has  a  League  for 
Immigrants,  which  is  doing  good  work  in  protecting  those  who 
come  to  the  city  from  the  vampires  who  hang  around  depots 
waiting  for  gullible  victims.  It  has  also  carried  on  a  \agorous 
campaign  for  the  protection  of  immigrants  by  Federal  authority 
for  the  purpose  of  estabUshing  immigrant  stations  inland  at 
points  of  distribution,  as  before  referred  to.  The  League  is 
interested  in  other  Unes  of  activity,  such  as  education  and  social 
betterment  for  the  foreigners.  There  are  other  organizations 
doing  welfare  work  for  immigrants,  such  as  the  Friendly 
Society  for  Immigrants,  Educational  Alliance,  Society  for  Dis- 
tribution of  Immigrants,  etc.,  while  the  majority  of  settlement 
houses  in  the  immigration  zone  devote  their  energies  to  the 
man  and  woman  of  foreign  birth,  giving  special  attention  to  the 
children  of  the  foreign-born.  It  is  hard  to  find  a  settlement  in 
any  of  the  thirty  large  cities  before  mentioned  which  does  not 
find  its  sphere  of  usefulness  among  the  immigrants  or  their 
descendants.  These  centers  of  light,  however,  do  their  best 
work  among  the  mothers  and  the  children, —  they  do  not  reach 
the  men  of  the  new  immigration  to  any  great  extent.  The 
services  rendered  by  enthusiastic  men  and  women  of  deep  sym- 
pathy in  these  settlements  cannot  be  computed.  They  bring 
comfort,  cheer,  counsel,  guidance,  and  protection  to  thousands 
of  helpless  and  ignorant  homes.    The  mother's  meetings,  the 


3i8 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


clubs  for  boys,  the  instruction  given  girls  in  domestic  science, 
the  friendly  visitor,  the  aid  given  in  sickness  and  death,  and  the 
quiet  uplifting  influence  upon  the  home  are  all  done  from  the 
loftiest  motives,  and  in  the  spirit  of  sym.pathy  and  friendliness, 
and  with  a  devotion  that  often  reminds  one  of  the  self-abnega- 
tion of  a  St.  Francis  or  the  self-forgetfulness  of  a  Florence  Night- 
ingale. More  of  these  centers  are  needed.  If  they  were  sys- 
tematically organized  on  a  scale  commensurate  to  the  need,  so 
that  their  beneficent  influence  could  radiate  into  every  dark 
corner  of  congested  territory  where  foreigners  live,  these  sons 
and  daughters  of  backward  nations  would  soon  cease  to  be  a  per- 
plexing problem  in  our  cities. 

"Work  done  by  Churches.  —  The  churches  of  the  leading 
denominations  are  rendering  good  service  to  the  immigrants. 
Many  of  them  are  conducting  settlement  houses,  modeled  after 
the  Toynbee  pattern,  ministering  to  the  physical  and  economic 
as  well  as  the  spiritual  needs  of  these  peoples.  Some  parish 
houses  are  rendering  invaluable  ser\dces  by  conducting  dis- 
pensaries, milk  depots,  employment  bureaus,  free  clinics,  etc., — 
services  which  relieve  suffering,  restore  courage,  and  save  life. 
They  do  all  that  the  settlement  houses  do,  and,  in  addition,  they 
in  a  special  manner  bring  the  Christian  faith  to  bear  upon  the 
spiritual  needs  of  the  foreigners.  Back  of  the  Christian  settle- 
ment is  the  inspiration  of  a  thousand  years  of  service  to  the 
oppressed  and  poor,  and  underneath  it  is  the  faith  in  an  eternal 
Father,  who  has  in  all  ages  been  the  champion  of  the  fatherless, 
the  widow,  and  the  sufferer.  I  cannot  help  but  feel  every  time 
I  stand  in  a  Christian  settlement  house  that  here  is  the  agent  to 
renovate  and  raise  up  the  immigrant  home  from  ignorance, 
superstition,  and  helplessness,  if  only  it  could  divest  itself  of  the 
trammels  of  ecclesiastical  bigotry  and  denominational  exclu- 
siveness.  It  has  the  scientific  knowledge,  it  has  the  source  of 
inspiration;  the  one  thing  needed  is  to  have  it  rise  above  the 
limitations  imposed  by  man  on  the  teaching  and  spirit  of  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  and  render  serNdce  to  men  as  men,  regardless  of 
petty  distinction  of  creed  and  ritual.  I  have  seen  three  mission- 
aries, representing  three  denominations,  working  among  the 


REACHING  TEE  NEWCOMER 


same  people.  These  men  represented  the  same  Master,  drew 
their  teaching  from  the  same  Book,  held  up  before  their  people 
the  same  ideals  of  purity  and  redemption,  and  yet  they  were 
envious,  jealous,  malignant,  and  morose.  The  one  was  afraid 
the  others  would  steal  his  people,  would  call  upon  his  families, 
would  render  some  service  to  a  member  of  his  parish.  The 
effect  this  had  upon  the  people  can  be  better  imagined  than 
described.  The  foreigners  knew  only  one  faith,  one  Lord,  one 
baptism  before  they  came  to  America,  but  now  they  are  per- 
plexed and  confused  by  the  multiplicity  of  doctrines  and  dis- 
tinctions, which  tend  to  break  down  the  very  fiber  and  tissue  of 
all  religious  faith.  Every  man  who  believes  in  the  eternal 
verities  mourns  the  loss  of  faith  in  spiritual  realities  incident  to 
the  coming  of  the  immigrant  to  America,  but  is  it  not  largely 
due  to  the  divisions  among  men  who  profess  in  this  enlightened 
country  to  follow  the  same  Lord  ? 

Foreigners  are  Religious.  —  There  is  no  faith  as  strong  and 
childlike  on  this  continent  as  that  brought  here  by  the  new 
immigrants.  The  Slav  is  instinct  with  religious  faith.  We  have 
before  stated  that  no  people  in  the  old  immigration  are  as  faith- 
ful and  loyal  to  their  church  as  the  Slav  and  Lithuanian.  The 
Greek  and  Bulgarian,  the  Turk  and  the  Hebrew  regard  the  con- 
verts from  the  faith  of  their  fathers  as  renegades.  Many  of 
these  people,  after  they  have  been  in  America  some  time,  drift 
away  from  the  faith  of  their  childhood,  not  into  another  species  of 
belief,  but  into  no  belief.  There  is  no  sincerer  note  of  regret 
heard  from  the  lips  of  earnest  men  than  that  uttered  by  the 
pastors  of  foreign  flocks,  who  see  the  drift  from  the  norms  of 
conduct  as  laid  down  in  Greek,  Roman,  Protestant,  or  Hebrew 
faith.  This  irreligion  is  a  serious  matter.  It  is  not  infidelity. 
It  is  loss  of  faith  in  the  peculiar  drapery  of  religious  truth  fa- 
miliar to  them  from  childhood,  because  of  the  comminghng  of 
creeds,  the  multiplicity  of  churches,  and  the  contempt  so  often 
expressed  byword  and  picture  of  sacred  things,  places,  and  minis- 
ters. The  civilization  of  America  has  its  roots  in  religious  con- 
cepts. Indeed,  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  the  country  would  be 
what  it  is  to-day  if  the  founders  had  not  been  men  of  deep, 


320 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


strong,  and  abiding  faith  in  the  spiritual  background  of  this 
universe.  No  civilization,  as  far  as  we  can  see,  will  last  long 
unless  the  members  of  it  believe  in  things  unseen  and  eternal. 
It  is  because  of  these  facts  we  look  with  serious  apprehension 
upon  this  drift  into  irreUgion  on  the  part  of  the  mass  of 
immigrants  who  come  to  America.  We  may  give  them  the 
veneer  of  a  higher  civihzation,  but  if  that  is  not  attached  to  the 
spiritual  nature  of  the  Slav  and  Hebrew,  Lithuanian  and  Mag- 
yar, Greek  and  Turk,  it  will  not  save  them  from  deterioration 
and  anarchy. 

Proselytism  will  not  Win.  —  How  can  the  spiritual  powers 
of  these  people  be  preserved  and  enUsted  for  the  further  advance- 
ment of  the  civilization  of  America  ?  Not  by  a  propaganda  of 
proselytism.  The  attempt  to  proselyte  men  arouses  passion, 
crystalHzes  prejudice,  stirs  up  strife  and  enmity,  and  makes  men 
more  demons  than  saints.  The  function  of  religion  is  to  soothe 
the  asperities,  to  refine  the  lower  nature,  to  give  the  heart  and 
soul  ideals  and  hopes  above  the  seen  and  temporal,  but  the 
moment  a  conflict  for  faith  and  creed  is  precipitated  for  the 
expressed  purpose  of  wrenching  men  from  the  faith  of  their 
childhood,  the  very  agency  designated  to  soothe,  refine,  and 
elevate  becomes  a  scourge  that  lashes  to  fury  the  beast  in  man, 
and  nothing  is  either  too  harsh  for  him  to  say  or  too  heinous  for 
him  to  do.  I  have  seen  refined  and  cultured  men  rage  in  furious 
denunciation  and  indignation  because  men  of  another  faith 
stooped  to  say  uncharitable  things  about  them  and  their  people's 
creed.  Those  who  have  known  the  effects  of  a  propaganda  of 
proselytism  agree  that  it  will  never  solve  the  "  irreligion  of  the 
future  "  as  prophesied  in  the  conduct  of  men  and  boys  of  foreign 
parentage  in  America. 

Fundamental  Principles.  —  There  are  fundamental  principles 
of  conduct  and  life  common  to  all  creeds.  When  Hebrew  and 
Protestant,  Roman  Catholic  and  Greek  Orthodox,  meet  for  the 
discussion  of  education  and  social  betterment,  sanitation  in  mill 
and  safety  in  mine,  insurance  against  accident  and  sickness, 
playgrounds  and  parks,  political  purity  and  efficiency,  they 
find  a  common  platform  and  go  forth  to  battle  as  a  united  host. 


REACHING  THE  NEWCOMER 


321 


Is  it  not  possible  for  the  leaders  of  these  various  faiths  to  agree 
upon  a  code  of  moral  instruction  which  may  be  used  among  all 
foreigners,  and  which  will  give  the  deep,  underlying  principles  of 
religion  in  the  creed  of  all  faiths  based  upon  the  Bible?  The 
norms  of  conduct  are  found  in  the  Old  as  well  as  in  the  New 
Testament;  upon  these  there  is  no  division  of  opinion,  and  when 
these  are  brought  before  the  minds  of  immigrants,  it  will  prove 
to  them  that  the  foundation  of  faith  is  the  same  in  Hebrew  and 
Protestant,  Roman  Catholic  and  Greek  Orthodox,  and  that  the 
idiosyncrasies  of  faith,  as  expressed  in  various  creeds,  are  settings 
which  seemed  most  appropriate  to  men.  To  these,  each  one, 
according  to  his  choice,  can  attach  himself,  but  he  should  never 
make  the  mistake  of  taking  the  accidental  for  the  essential,  the 
drapery  for  the  soul,  the  temporal  for  the  eternal.  In  essentials, 
there  should  be  unity;  in  non-essentials,  freedom;  in  all  things, 
charity. 

A  Religious  Family.  —  A  friend  of  mine,  a  missionary  in  the 
Northwest,  where  he  had  to  travel  long  distances  and  sleep  in 
all  kinds  of  places,  once  came  to  a  Doukhobor  family  and  asked 
for  shelter  overnight.  They  immediately  opened  their  door  and 
welcomed  him  as  their  guest.  The  house  comprised  only  one 
room,  and  there  were  six  children  besides  the  parents.  They 
j&xed  my  friend's  bed  on  a  bench  and  two  chairs.  Two  of  the 
boys  went  to  sleep  back  of  the  stove  and  the  four  other  children 
lay  on  the  floor,  while  the  parents  occupied  the  family  bed.  At 
dawn  they  were  up ;  and  before  the  day's  work  began,  parents 
and  children  all  faced  the  morning  sun,  knelt  in  prayer,  read  a 
portion  of  the  Bible,  and  sang  a  simple  hymn.  The  missionary 
said  that  he  was  reminded  somewhat  of  the  sun  worshipers  as 
they  prayed;  he  would  gladly  lop  off  some  things  from  the  form 
of  worship  he  then  witnessed,  but  he  has  never  forgotten  the  deep 
devotion,  the  fervor,  and  the  spiritual  atmosphere  of  that  simple 
service.  He  said,  "  They  are  God's  people,  and  they  have  a 
firm  foundation  for  good  citizenship."  That  is  the  foundation 
America  wants  to  preserve  in  the  lives  of  the  southeastern 
peoples  of  Europe  as  they  assume  the  rights  and  duties  of  "  com- 
ing Americans." 

Y 


322 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


United  Effort  Desirable.  —  The  best  citizenship  of  every 
community  has  a  reUgious  basis,  and  the  best  work  in  reaching 
the  foreigners  be  done  by  recognizing  this.  If  the  rehgious 
forces  of  a  town  or  city  come  together,  forget  their  denomina- 
tional difference  and  antecedents,  join  in  one  strong  effort  to  bring 
the  foreign  brother  into  line  with  American  civilization,  the  time 
will  soon  come  when  the  foreigners  will  be  submerged  in  a 
wave  of  patriotism  that  will  bring  new  Ufe  to  the  nation. 
This  was  done  in  one  of  our  towns.  Every  church  pooled  its 
interests,  secured  the  services  of  a  capable  leader,  and  carried 
on  work  for  foreigners  on  a  broad,  Christian  basis.  Whenever 
the  leader  wanted  an  assistant,  he  appealed  to  the  committee 
representing  the  churches,  and  immediately  the  man  or  woman 
was  furnished.  Classes,  lectures,  clubs,  sewing  and  cooking 
schools  were  organized,  and  meetings  planned,  where  the  foreign- 
and  the  home-born  met  in  Christian  fellowship.  This  leader  was 
capable  and  wise.  An  unsympathetic  agent  succeeded  in 
breaking  up  one  of  his  sewing  classes  by  playing  upon  the  mem- 
bers' fears  of  the  fires  of  Gehenna;  but  he  got  them  all  back  by 
saying  that  on  the  following  Saturday  he  would  give  each  pupil 
a  carnation.  Flowers  were  a  greater  attraction  than  the  fear  of 
hell  fire.  That  will  always  be  the  case  if  the  hand  which  gives 
the  flower  has  back  of  it  a  heart  that  loves  the  foreigner. 

Let  the  Foreigners  Help.  —  The  leader  also  enlisted  the  help 
of  the  foreigners  themselves  whenever  he  could  use  them.  One 
of  his  best  and  most  enthusiastic  supporters  was  a  young  Sicilian, 
a  student  of  medicine.  His  parents  could  neither  read  nor 
write;  they  looked  with  suspicion  upon  his  efforts  to  rise  above 
the  status  of  the  imskilled  worker.  He  ran  away  from  home 
because  of  their  opposition  to  his  ambition,  but  when  he  re- 
turned, they  were  so  pleased  to  see  him  again  that  they  waived  all 
objections  and  let  him  live  his  life.  The  leader  helped  the 
young  man ;  he  introduced  him  to  a  good,  sympathetic  physician, 
who  enthusiastically  entered  into  his  plans.  He  is  climbing  up 
and  has  in  him  the  promise  of  a  capable  man.  But  even  greater 
and  better  than  his  mental  capacity  is  his  heart.  He  sympa- 
thizes with  his  people,  he  sees  in  how  many  ways  they  fall  short  of 


REACHING  THE  NEWCOMER 


American  standards,  and  his  counsel  and  judgment  as  to  what 
is  best  calculated  to  raise  them  to  these  standards  are  of  great 
value. 

Personal  Touch  is  the  Solution.  —  Personal  touch  is  the  one 
great  solvent  of  this  problem.  The  foreigners  live  better  here 
than  they  did  in  the  fatherland,  but  an  improved  economic 
condition  will  not  make  them  men  and  women  such  as  America 
wishes  its  denizens  to  be;  external  copying  of  American  dress 
and  furniture  will  not  raise  them  to  it.  If  they  ever  come  to  the 
stature  of  American  manhood  and  womanhood,  it  can  only  be 
done  by  relating  and  associating  themselves  to  Americans  of  the 
right  kind.  It  will  come  by  intercourse,  friendship,  communion, 
social  fellowship,  and  the  hearty  cooperation  of  all  parties  con- 
cerned.   The  foreigner  covets  this,  will  the  American  give  it? 


CHAPTER  XXII 


THE  CHILD  OF  THE  FOREIGNER 

The  most  serious  problem  confronting  us  in  the  whole  of  the 
immigration  question  is  that  of  the  child  of  foreign-born  parents. 
As  before  stated,  the  foreign-born  adults  are  not  more  criminal 
than  the  white  population  of  native  parentage,  but  this  is  not 
the  case  when  we  come  to  the  son  of  the  foreign-born.  He  is 
three  times  more  criminal  than  the  son  of  the  native-bom  and 
outstrips  his  parents  in  \icious  and  criminal  tendencies.  This 
drift  to  lawlessness  is  the  one  characteristic  feature  of  the  sons 
of  immigrants.  The  girls  of  foreign  parentage  are  not  thus 
distinguished  from  those  of  native  parentage;  excessive  crimi- 
nality is  found  only  in  the  male  offspring  of  immigrant  parents. 
The  sons  of  immigrants,  in  ability  to  read  and  write,  compare 
favorably  with  those  of  native  parentage,  but  the  average  age 
of  the  former  leaving  school  is  lower  than  that  of  the  latter. 
The  sons  of  foreigners  also  show  a  strong  tendency  to  rise  above 
the  economic  standing  of  their  parents;  the  percentage  entering 
the  professions,  commerce  and  trade,  the  mechanical  arts,  far 
exceeds  that  of  the  parents  so  occupied,  etc.  They  also  show  a 
decided  aspiration  to  rise  and  conform  to  American  standards 
in  dress,  food,  home,  and  social  life;  but  in  the  formative  period 
of  character  building,  this  son  of  the  immigrant  figiu-es  most 
conspicuously  in  the  juvenile  courts,  in  reformatories  and 
prisons,  and  gives  great  concern  to  those  who  try  to  mold  into 
eflBcient  manhood  and  good  citizenship  the  son  of  the  foreign- 
born. 

The  Desire  to  Excel.  —  Every  one  interested  in  reform  work 
for  boys  has  asked  the  question,  why  is  the  son  of  the  foreign- 
bom  characterized  by  excessive  tendencies  to  crime?  What 
are  the  causes  of  this  vicious  and  criminal  tendency?  The 

324 


THE  CHILD  OF  THE  FOREIGNER  325 

laws  of  heredity  do  not  give  us  the  clew,  for  the  foreign-born, 
although  made  of  the  boldest,  most  aggressive,  most  enter- 
prising men  of  backward  races ;  although  planted  in  an  environ- 
ment that  is  strange  and  new;  although  removed  from  the  re- 
straining influences  of  wives  and  children,  of  church  and  social 
bonds,  are  not  more  criminal  than  the  native-born;  or,  in  other 
words,  these  men,  under  abnormal  family  conditions,  are  as 
law-abiding  as  our  own  people.  If  the  sons  were  like  their 
fathers,  we  would  expect  them  to  be  less  criminal  than  the  sons 
of  native  parents  —  judged  solely  by  the  laws  of  heredity. 
We  are  driven  to  seek  the  causes  in  the  environment  —  in  the 
school  life,  in  the  home  life,  and  in  the  conditions  under  which 
foreigners  live  in  our  cities.  One  quality  may  possibly  be 
credited  to  the  laws  of  heredity.  It  is  transmitted  ambition. 
They  want  to  excel ;  they  are  jealous  of  honor.  The  father  left 
the  homeland  because  he  was  not  satisfied;  he  wanted  to  do 
better;  he  endured  hardship  and  privations  in  the  new  world 
that  he  might  rise  in  his  economic  status;  he  worked  hard  and 
saved  money,  that  the  dream  of  better  things  might  be  realized; 
few  men  have  their  hopes  fulfilled,  but  all  transmit  the  will  to 
overcome  to  their  offspring.  In  this  atmosphere  of  intensive 
longing  the  sons  are  raised,  and  the  spirit  of  the  parents  is  inten- 
sified in  the  child.  The  sons  manifest  this  innate  tendency  by 
a  desire  to  excel,  the  longings  to  rise  and  be  masterful,  the 
ambition  to  beat  the  other  fellow  —  these  are  motives  which 
impel  the  son  of  the  foreigner  to  an  intensive  life  that  carries 
him  to  excess  and  transgression :  leaping  over  the  line,  breaking 
the  traces,  doing  the  exceptional  thing  which  few  sons  of  native- 
born  parents  care  to  do.  The  child  of  the  foreigner  sings  the 
songs  of  the  street  more  vehemently,  he  plays  craps  more 
recklessly,  he  swears  more  violently,  he  runs  more  recklessly 
into  forbidden  places,  he  loves  to  recite  the  daring  exploits  with 
cops  and  other  lads,  with  the  hope  of  winning  the  applause  of 
his  chums  and  being  considered  truly  American,  without  "mark 
or  stain  "  of  foreign  origin. 

Temptations  of  City  Life.  —  But  in  the  environment  are 
found  the  chief  causes  of  this  boy's  waywardness.    The  men  of 


326 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


the  new  immigration  live  in  cities,  and  this  is  one  of  the  prime 
causes  of  their  sons'  criminality.  The  Immigration  Com- 
mission could  not  find  a  tenement  block  occupied  by  the 
native-born  of  native  parentage.  The  congested  slums  of 
large  cities  are  wholly  occupied  by  the  foreigners  and  their 
children.  The  one-room  house,  the  dark  hallway,  the  dirty 
alley,  the  dismal  street,  the  degrading  tenement  make  up  the 
environment  of  thousands  of  sons  of  immigrants  in  America. 
Not  a  stone's  throw  from  this  dirt,  crowding,  poverty,  and 
wretchedness,  are  seen  windows  bursting  with  riches,  mansions 
empty  or  occupied  by  a  few  favored  ones,  stores  filled  with 
articles  that  entice  the  eye  and  tempt  the  hand.  These  sons 
of  the  tenements  can  read  and  write,  and  the  princes  of  finance 
are  portrayed  in  the  press  in  a  way  little  calculated  to  promote 
social  peace  or  regard  for  established  authority.  A  thousand 
temptations  and  a  goading  sense  of  social  wrongs  act  daily 
upon  the  lives  of  the  sons  of  foreigners,  impelling  them  to  crimes, 
which  they,  with  their  sense  of  perverted  justice,  regard  as 
reprisals.  Then  we  compare  this  boy,  living  under  these  condi- 
tions and  temptations,  with  the  boy  of  native  parentage  Uving 
in  a  comfortable  home  in  a  suburban  town,  removed  from  the 
temptations  of  tenement  life,  and  under  economic  conditions 
which  ward  off  poverty  and  want. 

No  Discipline  in  the  Home.  —  Another  cause  is  the  breaking 
down  of  discipline  in  the  home  of  foreign-born  parents.  Every 
child  of  immigrant  parents  stands  between  two  civilizations: 
the  one  belongs  to  the  old  world,  the  other  to  the  new.  An 
Italian  physician,  in  Hartford,  said  that  the  average  Itahan 
parent  stands  in  awe  of  the  law  of  this  country,  which  protects 
the  child  more  than  that  of  Italy  does.  Hence,  the  parents  are 
afraid  to  lay  hands  upon  the  wayward  son  lest  perchance  they 
get  into  trouble  with  the  authorities.  Homes  in  America  are 
governed  very  differently  from  what  they  are  in  the  fatherland. 
The  foreign-born  parents  become  conscious  of  this  at  an  early 
date,  and  so  does  the  child;  the  former  try  vainly  to  enforce 
old-world  regulations  and  the  latter  sets  them  at  defiance.  The 
"  old  folks  "  lose  control  over  the  lad  and  there  is  none  outside 


THE  CHILD  OF  THE  FOREIGNER 


327 


to  guide  him,  until  he  comes  face  to  face  with  legaUzed 
authority.  When  he  gets  into  trouble,  the  average  court  is 
prejudiced  and  antagonistic.  There  is  no  one  present  to  take 
a  fatherly  or  brotherly  interest  in  the  boy  and  very  often  he  ends 
by  hating  government  and  authority  and  drifting  into  anarchy. 

Influence  of  the  Press.  —  The  power  of  example  is  also  great 
in  the  life  of  this  foreigner's  son.  Americans  are  not  sinners 
above  the  average  of  civilized  men,  but  in  no  ccuntry  does  the 
press  speak  of  crime  as  do  many  papers  in  our  large  cities.  The 
prominence  given  the  criminal,  the  detail  of  the  crime,  the 
pernicious  trials  conducted  by  newspapers  and  the  declaration  of 
guilt  or  innocency  before  the  court  sits  and  the  case  is  tried  in 
the  prescribed  manner  —  all  this  has  a  fascination  that  is 
irresistible  to  the  boy  of  no  discipline  and  no  restraint.  The 
demoralizing  and  insinuating  pictures,  the  vicious  story  and  the 
vile  card,  the  record  of  criminals  at  large,  both  rich  and  poor, 
the  blue  laws  that  are  dead  letters  and  recent  ones  that  are  no 
better  —  all  this  has  an  effect  upon  the  youth  of  foreign  paren- 
tage which  impels  him  to  ways  of  vice  and  crime.  Add  to  this 
the  contempt  for  the  foreigner,  so  often  expressed  in  word  and 
cartoon,  and  you  have  a  combination  of  forces  that  invoke 
recklessness  and  lead  to  lawlessness. 

The  Juvenile  Courts.  —  Social  workers  among  the  sons  of 
immigrants  say  that  these  boys,  raised  in  America,  come  short 
of  the  virtues  possessed  by  their  fathers,  raised  in  the  old 
country.  In  Detroit,  the  record  of  the  juvenile  court  shows 
that  80  per  cent  of  the  crimes  are  laid  at  the  door  of  the  sons  of 
foreigners.  The  chief  of  the  police,  in  Utica,  said  that  the  young 
Italian  criminal  is  the  slickest  pickpocket  that  he  ever  knew, 
that  many  of  these  young  men  will  not  work,  but  exert  every 
effort  to  live  the  life  of  a  parasite.  The  probation  officer,  of 
Hartford,  said  that  88  per  cent  of  the  boys  on  the  list  were  sons 
of  foreign-born  parents;  he  gave  two  reasons  for  this  condition; 
the  one  because  they  lacked  strong  fathers  and  clean  homes;  the 
other,  because  they  do  not  understand  American  ways.  A 
detective,  in  a  city  where  many  foreigners  lived,  said  that 
many  foreign  parents  encouraged  their  children   to  steal 


328 


THE  NEtt'  IMMIGILiTION 


and  charged  them,  as  a  religious  obligation,  to  keep  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  law;  if  they  were  caught,  parents  as  well  as  the 
courts  punished  them.  This  man  had  considerable  difficulty 
with  a  foreign-speaking  family,  and,  on  one  occasion,  when  he 
went  to  arrest  a  boy,  the  mother  with  a  big  stick  in  her  hand 
met  him  at  the  door  and  blocked  his  entrance  into  the  house. 
He  wanted  the  boy,  she  would  not  budge,  a  scuffle  followed, 
the  officer  conquered  that  Amazon,  and  got  along  all  right  with 
the  boy.  A  school-teacher  of  large  experience  described  the 
boy  of  foreign  parentage  as  follows :  "  These  boys  use  tobacco, 
drink  liquor,  shoot  craps,  and  frequent  cheap  theaters.  Money 
they  must  have  and  thie\dng  is  their  only  way  to  get  it."  One 
of  these  boys  in  Chicago  had  the  reputation  of  being  a  leader 
among  his  chums  ;  he  spent  most  of  his  nights  in  barns  and  out- 
of-the-way  places,  was  watched  by  the  pohce,  and  was  beyond  the 
control  of  his  parents.  He  was  taken  in  hand  by  a  Christian 
gentleman  in  order  to  see  if  he  could  be  reclaimed.  During  the 
winter  he  stood  firm,  but  when  spring  came,  he  joined  his  old 
chums,  stole  the  pocketbook  of  a  lady,  and  was  sent  to  a  reform- 
atory. It  is  in  the  spring,  or  in  the  summer,  or  when  the  lads 
return  to  the  city  from  the  farms,  that  the  crime  curve  cUmbs  up. 

Let  the  Foreigner  express  Himself.  —  Recently,  the  New 
York  Survey  asked  for  information  concerning  the  Greek  boy 
found  in  shoe-shining  parlors.  We  want  information  concern- 
ing the  sons  of  foreigners  as  a  whole.  We  do  not  imderstand 
this  boy.  He  is  cuffed  and  clubbed,  but  few  are  the  men  who 
will  sit  do-mi  and  hear  his  story  and  learn  how  he  feels.  Few 
are  the  agencies  especially  designed  to  aid  this  boy  to  hve  a  hfe 
of  usefulness  in  America.  To  pen  Greek  boys  in  shoe-shining 
parlors  and  shut  out  all  American  influences  from  their  life,  is 
bad.  The  habit  of  some  foreigners  to  give  drink  to  their  off- 
spring and  send  them  to  school  under  the  influence  of  intoxicants, 
is  stiU  worse.  To  raise  a  child  of  five  in  such  a  manner  that 
he  will  not  eat  his  food  imless  he  gets  his  glass  of  beer  is  some- 
thing foreign  to  American  ways.  The  foreigners  have  their 
ideas  how  children  ought  to  be  raised  and  what  they  wish  them 
to  be.    The  Italian  and  Hebrew  mothers  have  very  different 


THE  CHILD  OF  THE  FOREIGNER 


329 


ideas  as  to  the  part  their  daughters  are  to  play  in  Ufe,  as  com- 
pared with  those  of  American  mothers.  We  are  trying  hard  to 
thrust  our  ideas  of  education  upon  the  sons  and  daughters  of 
foreigners  and  never  think  of  asking  what  the  foreign-born 
parents  think  of  them.  Would  it  not  be  well  for  us  to  consult 
these  people  occasionally,  give  them  a  hearing,  that  we  may 
learn  what  ideas  they  have  on  the  question  of  preparing  sons 
and  daughters  for  the  business  of  life? 

The  Foreigner's  Child  not  Understood.  —  If  we  could  only 
understand  the  child  of  the  foreigner,  our  services  would  be 
more  successful  and  effective.  A  httle  Italian  girl  in  Westfield, 
N.Y.,  used  to  come  every  day  during  the  weeks  of  summer,  to 
the  yard  of  the  home  of  an  American  lady.  At  first,  she  regarded 
it  as  an  intrusion,  drove  the  chUd  away,  and  bolted  the  gate  of 
the  fence.  The  child  persisted  in  coming,  and  one  day  the  lady 
asked  her,  "  Why  do  you  come  here?  "  The  child  answered, 
"  It's  nice,  my  home  small  and  too  much  stove,  here  nice 
flowers."  It  was  for  the  open  air,  the  green  grass,  and  the  flowers 
that  she  came,  and  that  kind-hearted  lady  heard,  in  the  voice 
of  the  child,  a  voice  from  heaven,  and  she  was  not  disobedient. 
She  found  a  mission  that  was  worth  while.  Mr.  Billinkopf, 
head  of  the  Educational  Institute  in  Kansas  City,  found  the 
sons  of  foreigners  eager  to  play  but  reluctant  to  wash.  He 
studied  the  equilibrium  of  forces  in  social  service,  opened  the 
door  of  the  gymnasium  to  the  boys  on  condition  they  would 
use  the  shower  baths,  and  the  two  propositions  balanced  ad- 
mirably. In  one  of  the  schools  in  Harlem,  a  son  of  a  foreigner 
could  not  sit  still  in  his  seat.  He  would  suddenly  thrust  his 
hands  in  various  ways,  then  Jump  up,  get  out  of  his  seat,  and 
make  some  funny  gestures.  The  teacher  tried  to  break  him  of 
the  practice,  but  faDed,  and  then  she  became  nervous.  She 
resolved  to  call  at  his  home,  talk  to  the  parents  about  the  boy, 
and  advise  them  to  consult  a  competent  physician.  She  did  so 
and  the  mother  told  her  what  Casmire's  trouble  was,  "  He's 
crazy  for  gymnasium  exercises."  The  teacher  understood, 
laughed  at  her  fears,  took  the  boy  to  the  gymnasium,  and  he  is 
on  his  way  to  be  an  expert  physical  instructor.    An  Italian 


330 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


parent  came,  one  afternoon,  into  one  of  the  Pittsburgh  libraries 
when  the  "  children's  hour  "  was  on.  He  listened  to  the  story, 
he  looked  at  the  room,  he  understood  the  meaning  of  it  all,  and  as 
the  beauty  and  possibility  of  the  work  dawned  upon  him,  he  said, 
"  This  is  fine,  it  is  heaven,  I'll  bring  my  children  here,"  and  twice 
every  week  that  Italian  gives  his  offspring  a  bit  of  "  heaven." 
It  is  cheaper  and  better  to  provide  something  for  the  child  of  the 
foreigner  to  meet  his  love  of  the  beautiful  and  of  adventure, 
than  try  to  reclaim  the  ones  who  go  wrong  for  the  want  of  right 
appUances. 

In  the  Public  School.  —  The  children  of  foreign-born  parents 
in  the  pubUc  schools  can  be  favorably  compared  with  those  of 
the  native-born.  Many  of  them  have  the  disadvantage  of  a 
foreign  tongue,  but  if  they  are  judged  by  the  percentage  of 
pupils  retarded  in  the  various  grades  because  of  inefficiency, 
they  do  not  fall  far  behind  the  sons  of  the  native-born,  the 
figures  being  36.0  and  34.1,  respectively.  If  we  compare  the 
three  groups  of  children,  those  of  the  native-born  of  native 
parentage,  those  of  the  foreign-born  of  the  old  immigration,  and 
those  of  the  new  immigration,  the  percentages  are  34.1,  33.0 
and  40.3,  respectively.  Of  all  the  pupils  in  the  pubUc  schools 
investigated  by  the  Immigration  Commission,  the  percentage 
of  the  native-born  children  in  the  high  school  was  9.1  as  com- 
pared with  4.7  of  children  of  foreign  parentage.  But  in  this 
respect  again  the  percentage  of  children  of  foreign-born  parents 
of  the  new  immigration  is  only  2.2  as  compared  with  6.0  of  the 
children  of  men  of  the  old  immigration.  Of  the  foreign-bom 
parents,  the  most  inclined  to  keep  their  children  at  home  or 
send  them  to  work  at  an  early  age  are  the  Lithuanians,  while 
the  Magyars  are  exemplary  in  their  effort  to  keep  their  children 
in  school.^ 

The  Parochial  School.  —  The  public  school  is  the  place  where 
every  child  of  the  foreigner,  under  sixteen  years  of  age,  ought 
to  be.  There  is  a  difficulty  in  the  way.  Fully  75  per  cent  of 
our  present  immigration  belong  to  the  Roman  Catholic  faith, 

1  See  table  in  addenda,  "  Children  at  Home, "  etc.  Also  Immigration  Commission's 
Abstract  of  Report  on  "Children  of  Immigrants  in  Schools,"  pp.  27  and 39. 


TEE  CHILD  OF  THE  FOREIGNER 


and  the  priests  look  upon  our  schools  as  "  godless  institutions." 
Some  foreigners  have  special  reasons  for  patronizing  the  parochial 
school.  I  met  a  Mr.  Ostroski  in  Utica,  who  was  an  intelligent 
Pole  with  a  native-born  wife.  He  sent  his  children  to  the 
parochial  school,  and  when  asked,  "  Why  do  you  send  them 
there,  is  not  the  pubhc  school  better?  "  "  Yes,"  was  his  reply, 
"  but  I  want  them  to  learn  Polish  and  German,  and  they  cannot 
get  these  studies  in  the  public  schools."  The  New  York 
Commission  of  Immigration,  "  found  a  number  of  religious 
•  schools  in  which  the  English  language  was  not  adequately  taught 
or  was  taught  as  a  foreign  tongue  [and  that]  large  numbers  of 
children  are  growing  up  under  unfavorable  educational  condi- 
tions." The  Immigration  Commission  found  religious  schools 
in  the  Wyoming  Valley,  in  Pennsylvania,  where  no  English 
was  taught,  and  they  were  closed.  It  is  not  exceptional  to  find 
cities  where  30  per  cent  of  the  school  population  is  in  the  paro- 
chial school,  and  conditions  are  far  from  being  what  they  ought 
to  be,  as  far  as  the  education  of  the  sons  of  foreigners  to  be 
future  citizens  is  concerned.  In  the  cities  of  Manchester, 
Lowell,  Shenandoah,  Fall  River,  Haverhill,  and  MinneapoUs, 
from  80  to  90  per  cent  of  the  scholars  in  the  religious  schools 
had  foreign-born  parents  ;  in  the  twenty-four  cities  in  which  the 
Immigration  Commission  investigated  the  religious  schools, 
more  than  63  per  cent  of  the  children  were  of  foreign  parentage.^ 
In  one  of  the  leading  cities  of  the  East,  it  was  nothing  unusual 
for  native-born  boys  of  foreign  parentage  to  ask  for  certificates 
of  employment  in  a  foreign  tongue,  being  unable  to  speak  the 
English  language.  I  found  the  same  thing  in  a  city  of  the  Middle 
West.  This  is  a  decided  wrong  to  the  child  of  the  foreigner  who 
is  expected  to  grow  up  to  be  a  citizen  of  the  United  States. 

Standards  in  Education.  —  The  foreigner's  child  also  suffers 
because  of  varying  standards  in  the  parochial  and  the  public 
school.  Take  the  question  of  standards  of  education.  In  some 
cities,  the  religious  school  adopts  the  curriculum  of  the  public 
school,  and  their  pupils  favorably  compare  with  those  taught 

1  Immigration  Commission's  Abstract  of  Report  on  "  Children  of  Immigrants  in 

Schools,"  p.  69. 


332 


TEE  'SEW  IMMIGRATION 


in  secular  schools.  But  the  parochial  schools  established  by 
the  congregations  of  the  new  immigration  do  not  consult  the 
curriculum  of  the  pubhc  school,  while  their  pedagogical  methods 
and  the  standards  they  adopt  are  far  removed  from  those  re- 
quired in  a  modem  and  well-equipf)ed  institution  of  learning. 
Many  children,  twelve  years  of  age,  graduate  from  the  parochial 
school  in  foreign  colonies.  They  carmot  go  to  work,  for  they  are 
too  young ;  if  they  go  to  the  pubUc  school,  they  are  from  two 
to  three  years'  work  behind  pupils  of  the  same  age ;  they  feel 
out  of  place,  become  sensitive,  and  will  play  truant.  Scores 
of  boys,  during  the  inter\'al  between  graduation  from  parochial 
school  and  working  age,  contract  bad  habits.  They  loaf,  get 
into  mischief,  are  cuffed  at  home  because  they  will  not  work ; 
they  sleep  out,  make  a  few  pennies  selling  pap>ers  and  as  pin 
boys  in  bowling  alleys,  and  by  the  time  they  are  fourteen  or  six- 
teen years  of  age,  they  have  little  inclination  for  steady  work 
in  shop  or  mill.  I  asked  a  boy  I  foimd  standing  back  of  Tony 
Prouch's  saloon  in  one  of  our  towns,  "  How  is  it  you  are  not  in 
school  ?  "  "  They  put  me  with  the  kids,"  was  his  reply.  It  was 
not  the  boy's  f aiilt,  but  he  was  the  sufferer.  In  one  dty,  the  sons 
of  foreigners,  twelve  years  of  age,  were  employed,  contrary  to 
law.  An  effort  was  made  to  prosecute  some  of  the  employers, 
but  the  district  attorney  dep>ended  for  his  election  on  the  for- 
eign vote  and  refused  to  prosecute. 

Lack  of  Cooperation.  —  Many  parochial  schools  also  will  not 
cooperate  with  the  public  school  superintendent  and  the  truant 
officer.  Some  foreign  priests  think  it  an  impertinence  if  the 
authorities  of  town  interfere  in  any  way  with  their  schools.  One 
of  these  men,  belie\'ing  that  a  boy,  who  had  passed  through  his 
school,  ought  to  go  to  work,  gave  him  an  age  certificate  that  was 
not  correct ;  when  confronted  with  the  facts,  he  said,  "  He's 
old  enough  to  work  and  ought  to  work."  That  man  acted  and 
spoke  according  to  old-country  standards,  where  children  of 
ten  and  twelve  are  sent  to  work  on  farms,  and  he  thought  they 
could  just  as  well  work  in  America,  where  industrial  conditions 
are  wholly  different.  It  is  often  most  difficult  for  truant  offi- 
cers to  get  daily  report  of  pupils  absent  from  parochial  schools ; 


THE  CHILD  OF  THE  FOREIGXER 


333 


those  in  authority  are  reluctant  either  to  cooperate  or  give  the 
data  necessary  for  the  enforcement  of  the  law.  In  one  instance, 
a  truant  oflScer  wanted  to  bring  a  foreigner  to  task  for  neglecting 
to  send  his  child  to  school.  The  Pole  was  influential  in  the 
parish  and  defied  the  truant  officer.  The  priest  had  the  e\-i- 
dence  by  which  the  case  could  be  tried,  but  he  refused  to  give 
it  and  thus  defeated  the  purpose  of  the  law.  These  rehgious 
schools  are  subjected  to  the  church.  If  there  is  a  funeral  or  a 
wedding,  or  a  church  festival,  the  school  is  closed,  especially 
so  if  the  teacher,  as  is  often  the  case,  is  the  man  who  plays  the 
organ ;  this  means,  during  the  year,  the  loss  of  many  days' 
schooling  to  the  pupils.  The  parents  must  also  pay  for  the 
instruction  of  their  children  in  these  schools.  If  they  have 
four  or  five  children  of  school  age,  it  becomes  a  heaxy  drain 
upon  the  resources  of  the  family.  Some  impoverished  parents 
cannot  afford  it  and  their  children  are  out  of  school ;  they  are 
ignorant  and  believe  the  statement  that  the  public  school 
is  a  godless  school,  hence,  they  will  not  send  the  children  there, 
so  they  play  on  the  street,  if  the  to^m  has  no  truant  officer  to 
enforce  the  law.  Moreover,  the  standard  of  sanitary  inspection 
now  instituted  in  pubUc  schools  is  not  found  in  the  religious 
school.  In  a  pubUc  school  in  one  of  the  smaller  cities  of  New 
York,  the  matron  examined  the  heads  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
children  and  found  vermin  on  all  of  them,  and  on  inquiry  found 
that  50  per  cent  had  come  to  school  that  morning  after  a  break- 
fast of  bread  and  beer.  The  parochial  schools,  as  well  as  the 
private  ones,  have  a  right  to  exist,  but  Justice  to  the  child  and 
considerations  of  pubUc  welfare  demand  that  American  standards 
of  education  dominate  them.  Foreign  parents  also  should  be 
made  conversant  with  the  state  laws  regulating  pubhc  instruc- 
tion. To  depart  from  American  standards,  to  be  ignorant  of 
educational  advantages  freely  offered  the  wards  of  the  state,  will 
injure  none  as  it  injures  the  foreigners  themselves. 

The  Working  Boy.  —  The  problem  of  the  working  boy  of 
foreign  parentage  is  a  serious  one.  Thousands  of  boys  come 
to  America  at  an  age  when  they  cannot  very  well  fit  into  the 
school  curriculimi.    Giueseppi  Icolari  told  me  his  experience. 


334 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


He  came  to  America  when  he  was  fifteen  years  of  age  and  could 
not  talk  a  word  of  English.  The  law  of  the  state  declared  that 
no  boy  under  sixteen  years,  who  could  not  read  or  write  the 
English  language,  could  work.  He  was  put  to  school  among 
the  small  children,  who  made  fun  of  him.  This  he  did  not  like, 
his  ire  was  kindled,  and,  being  afraid  that  he  would  hurt  some 
of  the  children,  he  left  school  and  took  up  some  odd  jobs  and 
tried  to  study  the  language.  One  of  the  most  serious  questions 
confronting  the  sons  of  foreigners  in  the  port  towns  of  the  lakes 
is  that  of  idle  winters.  Work  on  ore  docks  continues  for  from 
five  to  seven  months ;  the  men  are  idle  all  winter  long  and  so 
are  the  boys.  They  have  nothing  to  do,  they  want  pleasure  and 
have  no  money  to  spend ;  the  only  avenues  open  are  crude 
physical  enjoyments  which  tend  to  destroy  both  physical  and 
moral  fiber.  It  is  a  condition  that  works  great  mischief  among 
these  young  men.  Idleness  is  demoraUzing  to  all  boys  of  work- 
ing age.  The  school  of  compulsory  labor  is  beneficent,  and  the 
son  of  the  foreigner  would  be  better  if  he  were  brought  face 
to  face  with  the  stern  obligation  to  work  regularly  and  continu- 
ously. Then  will  he  become  conscious  that  he  is  fulfilling  his 
part  as  a  member  of  the  social  organism ;  that  he  is  taking  his 
place  in  the  ranks  of  industry ;  and  that  he  is  doing  his  part  in 
conserving  and  increasing  those  national  resources  which  are 
the  very  basis  upon  which  civilization  must  rest. 

Young  Foreigners  as  Workers.  —  Give  the  foreigner's  son  a 
chance  and  he  will  do  this.  Foreign-born  parents  generally 
expect  their  children  to  work.  They  send  them  out  at  a  tender 
age  to  earn  a  living,  and  few  of  the  sons  of  foreigners  are  found 
in  the  higher  educational  institutions  of  the  land.  The  Immi- 
gration Commission  found  that  64.5  per  cent  of  the  students  in 
institutions  investigated  by  it  were  native-born  of  native 
parentage,  25.3  per  cent  native-born  of  foreign  parentage,  and 
10.2  per  cent  foreign-born.  The  sons  of  the  new  immigrants 
are  not  found  in  the  higher  walks  of  learning :  they  are  workers 
as  their  fathers  were.^   An  Italian  boy  in  a  depot  in  New  York, 

'  See  Immigration  Commission's  Abstract  of  Report  on  "  Children  of  Immigrants 
in  Schools,"  p.  82. 


THE  CHILD  OF  THE  FOREIGNER 


335 


thirteen  years  of  age,  standing  at  his  chair,  shouting,  "  Shine, 
sir,"  is  there  every  morning  at  7  o'clock,  and  at  8.45  he  runs  to 
school.  I  asked  him,  "  Do  you  give  all  you  make  to  your  pa?  " 
"  No,"  was  his  reply,  "  my  pa  gives  me  food,  but  I  am  sup- 
posed to  get  clothing  myself."  I  asked,  "  Are  you  able  to  do 
so?  "  "  Yes,"  he  cheerfully  replied,  "  I  bought  a  pair  of  shoes 
last  week  for  $1.50  and  I  have  a  bank  account  of  $21."  Mike, 
a  Greek  bootblack  in  Paterson,  is  nineteen  years  of  age  and  has 
been  in  the  country  three  and  a  half  years.  He  has  a  widowed 
mother  in  Greece,  two  younger  brothers,  and  a  sister.  I  asked 
him,  "  Have  you  been  able  to  send  any  money  home?  "  "  Yes," 
was  his  reply,  "  nearly  a  thousand  dollars,"  and  he  told  me 
further  that  he  had  a  bank  account.  In  a  town  in  New  England 
is  an  Armenian  young  man,  who  came  to  this  country  when  a  boy 
of  eleven  years.  The  Salvation  Army  saw  that  he  got  safely  to 
his  uncle,  and  not  long  after,  a  kind-hearted  American  lady 
took  an  interest  in  him,  clothed  him,  and  put  him  in  school.  After 
a  few  years,  he  began  work  in  a  mill,  saved  some  money,  and 
entered  into  the  restaurant  business.  He  then  resolved  to 
travel,  went  across  the  continent,  and  came  back  to  New  England. 
He  was  twenty  years  of  age  when  I  met  him,  and  could  talk 
English  fluently.  I  asked  him,  "  What  are  you  going  to  do?  " 
He  replied,  "  There  is  an  artist  in  me  and  I  want  to  develop  it ; 
I  would  like  to  be  a  musician."  These  are  not  picked  cases, 
they  are  typical  and  may  be  found  in  every  foreign  colony. 

Foreign-bom  Parents  Ambitious.  —  The  parents  of  these  sons 
are  anxious  to  see  their  boys  advancing.  A  Slovak  in  the  city 
of  Scranton,  when  asked  how  many  children  he  had,  replied, 
"Three."  "What  are  they  doing?"  "One  is  a  machinist, 
and  two  are  firemen."  He  himself  came  to  the  country  as  an 
unskilled  worker.  An  Italian  in  New  Haven,  in  charge  of  a 
shoe  stand,  has  a  boy  that  is  fond  of  music,  and  while  putting 
a  polish  on  my  shoes  he  proudly  said,  "  He  plays  the  violin  in 
the  opera  house  and  I  want  him  to  learn  and  be  a  great  musi- 
cian." While  talking  to  a  Lithuanian  saloon-keeper,  in  Bridge- 
port, a  son  of  eight  ran  up  to  his  "  pa."  The  boy  was  a  bright 
lad  and,  putting  my  hand  on  his  head,  I  asked  the  father, 


336 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


"  What  are  you  going  to  do  with  this  boy?  "  He  answered, 
"  I  want  him  to  be  an  artist ;  his  cousin  is  in  a  school  in  New 
York  studying  art,  and  I  want  him  to  go  there."  In  the  bosoms 
of  these  foreign-speaking  fathers  Ues  the  same  ambition  for 
the  future  of  their  sons  as  is  found  in  the  breast  of  Enghsh- 
speaking  fathers.  They  want  them  to  advance  a  step  higher 
in  the  social  scale  and  are  willing  to  sacrifice  to  help  them  to 
ascend.  Of  course,  all  are  not  of  that  spirit ;  but  the  normal 
fathers  —  the  foreigners  who  love  their  home  and  their  families 
—  they  are  as  anxious  to  have  their  offspring  rise  in  their 
economic  and  social  status  as  any  people  whatsoever  in  the  old 
immigration,  and  the  children  do  rise.  The  Austrians,  Italians, 
Poles,  and  Hungarians  have  an  average  of  22.9  per  cent  la- 
borers, but  of  their  sons  only  9.9  per  cent  are  so  classified.  The 
fathers  give  us  16.4  per  cent  in  mining  and  quarrying,  but  the 
sons  only  5.8  per  cent;  the  Poles  and  Hungarians  in  the  iron 
and  steel  works  make  5.9  per  cent,  but  their  sons  only  2.7. 
The  son  of  the  foreigner  is  not  disposed  to  earn  his  living  by 
unskilled  work.  When  we  consider  the  trades,  we  find  the  sons 
outnumbering  the  parents.  In  the  building  trades  only  2.7 
per  cent  of  the  fathers  are  so  employed,  but  4.2  of  the  sons; 
in  clerical  pursuits  not  i  per  cent  of  the  fathers  are  so  employed, 
but  9.6  of  the  children ;  and  in  the  professions  only  1.4  per  cent 
of  the  men  of  the  new  immigration  are  in  them,  but  3.3  of  the 
children.^  The  sons  of  the  new  immigration  improve  their 
opportunity  in  America,  and  in  this  they  are  right.  Nothing 
is  too  good  for  the  sons  of  immigrants.  The  children  are  heirs 
of  the  highest  and  best  in  American  civilization,  and  those  parents 
who  have  caught  the  vision  of  their  opportvmity  in  America 
should  be  encouraged.  Every  loyal  American  will  rejoice  in 
and  encourage  the  ambition  of  the  foreign-bom  concerning  their 
boys.  He  is  willing  to  help  these  boys  to  realize  what  came 
only  in  a  dream  into  the  lives  of  parents  as  they  left  the  father- 
land for  a  better  country. 

Americans  can  help  the  Boy.  —  Can  Americans  help  the 

1  See  Immigration  Commission's  Abstract  of  Report  on  "Occupation  of  the  First 
and  Second  Generations  of  Immigrants  in  the  United  States,"  pp.  13-27. 


THE  CHILD  OF  THE  FOREIGNER 


337 


child  of  the  foreigner  to  come  to  the  heritage  awaiting  all  who 
aspire  to  be  kings  and  priests  in  this  land  of  opportunity? 
There  is  but  one  answer  to  this  question.  Suppose  we  try  to 
understand  clearly  all  the  hindrances  which  check  the  develop- 
ment of  this  son  of  the  immigrant,  and  resolve  as  far  as  it  lies 
in  our  power  to  remove  them. 

Boys  made  Men  too  Soon.  —  Rousseau  said  that  "  almost  all 
their  [boys']  defects  of  body  and  mind  come  from  the  same 
cause  —  we  wish  to  make  men  of  them  before  their  time." 
This  tendency  to  push  to  maturity  the  son  of  the  foreigner  puts 
him  in  a  wrong  relation  to  his  home  and  to  society.  A  pastor 
in  Delray,  Mich.,  had  a  son,  a  boy  of  sixteen  years,  who  was  in 
college.  That  boy  was  the  head  of  the  house.  He  was  official 
interpreter  of  the  home,  through  him  they  did  their  business 
with  the  outside  world,  and  if  that  boy  retained  his  filial  affec- 
tion and  reverence,  it  was  due  to  his  strong  common  sense  and 
not  to  the  social  condition  that  placed  him  at  the  head  of  the 
home.  There  are  thousands  of  homes  in  the  United  States, 
in  which  parents  live  in  Europe  and  speak  the  language  of  their 
ancestors,  while  their  children  live  in  America  and  speak  the 
language  of  their  adopted  country.  There  cannot  be  much 
sympathy  between  parents  and  children  under  an  arrangement 
of  that  kind.  Americans  can  bring  the  hearts  of  parents  and 
children  into  greater  harmony,  by  enabling  foreign-speaking 
parents  to  understand  America  and  its  customs,  by  telling  the 
children  that  the  story  of  their  fathers'  achievements  is  worthy 
of  their  admiration.  These  sons  of  worthy  peoples  can  best 
serve  America  by  being  true  to  the  rock  whence  they  were  hewn. 
"  Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother  "  is  a  commandment  that 
needs  rehearsing  in  the  ears  of  the  sons  of  foreigners,  but  the 
precept  will  come  with  greater  weight  if  we  aid  the  son  of  the 
foreign-born  to  learn  that  there  is  much  worth  honoring  in  the 
nation  to  which  he  belongs. 

Believe  in  the  Sons  of  Foreigners.  —  Guyau  once  said, 
"  All  education  should  be  directed  to  this  end,  to  convince  the 
child  that  he  is  capable  of  good  and  incapable  of  evil  in  order 
to  render  him  actually  so."  This  is  a  principle  which  should 
z 


338 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


be  applied  in  our  efforts  to  help  the  son  of  the  foreigner.  He  is 
not  perfect,  he  is  more  criminal  than  the  sons  of  native-bom 
parents,  but  we  will  make  the  greatest  blunder  if  we  treat  him 
as  "  no  good,"'  "  hopeless,"  "  bad  blood,"  and  the  like.  The 
foreigner's  son  will  commit  blunders,  he  will  fall  into  crime,  he 
will  be  guilty  of  many  shortcomings,  but  let  us  believe  in  him : 
though  he  fall,  let  us  encourage  him  to  rise  again ;  though  he 
stumble,  let  us  tell  him  that  he  can  struggle  forward  and  we 
are  there  to  help ;  if  he  "  goes  to  pieces,"  let  us  tell  him  that 
there  is  good  in  him  and  by  the  power  of  "  I  will  "  he  is  capable 
of  doing  better.  If  that  were  done  with  every  lad  and  young 
man  of  foreign  parents,  the  record  of  crime  which  makes  him 
notorious  would  soon  be  reduced.  But  as  long  as  this  descend- 
ant of  men  of  a  backward  civilization  feels  the  eye  of  contempt 
upon  him,  that  no  one  beUeves  in  him,  that  court  and  society 
watch  him  with  prejudice  and  regard  him  vdth.  antipathy,  he 
will  be  a  problem.  The  damnosa  hereditas  is  no  more  the 
gift  of  nature  to  the  sons  of  foreigners  than  to  the  sons  of  Ameri- 
cans ;  it  is  the  curse  that  comes  from  dirty  homes,  ignorant 
parents,  crowded  tenements,  and  vicious  companionship ;  it 
comes  from  dismal  streets,  dark  alleys,  degrading  shows,  and 
mendacious  and  anarchistic  literature ;  it  comes  from  lax 
administration  of  laws,  corrupt  officials,  and  unsympathetic 
courts  —  these  are  the  curse  of  thousands  of  sons  of  foreigners, 
and  they  will  not  pass  away  until  the  native-bom  will  champion 
the  cause  of  this  son  of  unfavorable  environment  and  insist 
upon  his  getting  a  square  deal  and  fair  play  in  the  game  of  life. 

American  Standard  should  Prevail.  —  This  problem  will 
not  be  solved  until  all  agencies  concerned  in  the  education  of 
the  son  of  the  foreigner  will  join  hands  to  bring  American  stand- 
ards and  ideals  into  his  mind  and  heart.  If  English  is  to  be 
the  language  of  this  country,  then  every  school  in  the  land  should 
give  it  first  place,  and  every  school  that  does  not  comply  with 
this  reasonable  rule  should  be  closed.  If  the  son  of  the  foreigner 
is  to  become  a  loyal  citizen  of  this  republic,  then  American 
history  should  be  taught  him  first,  and  that  of  any  other  cotmtry 
second.    If  the  son  of  the  foreigner  is  to  have  a  fair  chance  to 


THE  CHILD  OF  THE  FOREIGNER 


339 


compete  with  the  son  of  the  native-born,  he  should  be  kept  in 
school  in  compliance  with  the  requirement  of  law.  If  the 
foreign-born  parent  is  to  cooperate  in  this  laudable  aim,  he 
should  be  told  what  the  laws  regulating  education  are,  what 
are  the  opportunities  of  getting  an  education  in  this  country, 
and  that  his  child  is  heir  to  all  this,  as  much  so  as  the  son  of  the 
native-born  who  can  trace  his  ancestry  back  to  the  men  of  the 
Mayflower.  America  is  too  small  for  two  languages,  as  it  was 
too  small  for  two  flags.  Let  the  son  of  the  foreigner  know  his 
mother  tongue,  but  not  at  the  sacrifice  of  English.  Caste  has 
no  place  in  a  democracy  and  should  have  no  basis  in  our  system 
of  education.  The  requirements  of  all  future  citizens  of  this 
Republic  are  the  same,  and  all  our  wards  should  be  taught  to 
play  their  part  in  the  life  of  the  nation  without  respect  of  person. 

American  Laws  should  be  Enforced.  —  The  child  of  the 
foreigner  should  be  protected  in  his  work.  It  is  not  right  for 
foreign-born  men  to  bring  old-country  standards  to  this  country 
and  decide  when  a  child  should  begin  to  work.  Foreign  stand- 
ards are  for  foreign  countries  and  should  not  be  thrust  upon  an 
American  community.  The  safety  of  the  democracy  hes  in  the 
intelligence  of  its  citizens  and  the  basis  for  this  must  be  laid  in 
the  public  school.  Enlightened  patriotism  has  laid  down  the 
age  of  fourteen  years  as  the  time  boys  shovdd  begin  to  work  and, 
if  ignorant  of  our  language,  sixteen  years.  These  are  laws 
passed  by  benignant  statesmen  in  the  states  where  immigrants 
live,  and  they  should  be  observed.  They  can  only  be  enforced, 
however,  if  public  sentiment  is  back  of  them.  No  superin- 
tendent or  board  of  directors  will  be  strong  enough  to  secure 
obedience  to  these  wise  statutes,  unless  the  native-born  uphold 
their  hands. 

Moral  Education  Needed.  —  The  moral  Ufe  of  the  sons  of 
immigrants  must  not  be  forgotten.  The  instincts  that  are  good 
should  be  fostered  and  those  that  are  bad,  crushed.  Good  exam- 
ple is  the  lever  by  which  we  lift  boys  to  habits  of  goodness  and 
virtue.  The  lives  of  immigrant  boys  as  well  as  youth  generally 
bound  ever  forward.  They,  as  all  the  sons  of  men,  seek  those 
things  that  give  them  pleasure,  enjoyment,  and  satisfaction. 


340 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


They  are  boys  capable  of  goodness.  What  is  bad  let  us  be 
patient  with  and  give  it  wise  treatment  —  replace  it  with  the 
good.  Moral  education  he  needs  and  it  is  comprised  in  the 
cultivation  of  good  habits  rather  than  in  censure  and  punish- 
ment of  bad  habits.  We  must  help  him  to  overcome  evil  with 
good,  to  banish  evil  by  the  expulsive  power  of  goodness.  This 
is  the  only  way  success  will  meet  our  efforts  in  the  treatment 
of  the  sons  of  foreigners  as  well  as  those  of  the  native-born. 
Here,  as  elsewhere,  a  firm  foundation  in  moral  education  must 
be  laid,  by  relating  the  boy  to  the  spiritual  realities  of  hfe,  in 
order  that  we  may  with  assurance  look  forward  to  loyal  citizen- 
ship and  efficient  workmanship  as  the  superstructure. 


PART  VI 


CONCLUSIONS 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

THE  IMMIGRATION  PROBLEM 

The  facts  given  in  the  preceding  chapters  point  the  way  to 
an  immigration  policy  which  would  remedy  many,  if  not  remove 
all,  the  evils  that  arise  from  the  immigration  problem.  We 
acknowledge  that  it  is  a  problem,  but  not  as  serious  as  some 
good  people  try  to  make  it,  and  not  a  hopeless  one  by  any  means. 
All  students  of  immigration  should  try  to  do  two  things :  first, 
get  the  facts,  argue  from  them,  and  discard  popular  prejudices 
and  antipathies  —  we  want  to  know  conditions  as  they  are  and 
not  as  the  biased  imagine  them  to  be  ;  second,  not  to  lay  at  the 
door  of  the  foreigners  evils  and  conditions  which  are  due  to  the 
cupidity,  short-sightedness,  and  inefl&ciency  of  the  native-born. 

Scum  of  the  Earth.  —  The  statements  that  the  millions  of  "  the 
distressed  and  unfortunate  of  other  lands  and  climes,"  "  the 
scum  of  Europe,"  "  the  beaten  men  of  beaten  races,"  "  the  in- 
efficient, impoverished,  and  diseased,"  seek  American  shores, 
are  untrue,  uncharitable,  and  malicious.  Emigration  from  any 
land,  taken  as  a  whole,  is  made  up  of  the  most  vigorous,  enter- 
prising, and  strongest  members  of  the  race.  No  one  denies  this 
when  the  character  of  the  immigrants  who  came  to  America  in 
1820-1880  is  discussed.  Censors  and  prophets  of  evil  pro- 
claimed the  stereotyped  catalogue  of  calamities  when  they 
came,  but  their  fears  were  not  realized ;  the  men  made  good 
and  their  children  are  an  honor  to  the  nation.   The  men  of  the 

341 


342 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


new  immigration  are  now  under  the  eye  of  the  censor,  and  the 
prophets  of  calamities  are  not  wanting,  but  those  who  know  the 
newer  immigrants  intimately  believe  that  they,  as  their  pred- 
ecessors, will  make  good  and  that  their  children  will  be  an  honor 
to  us,  if  the  same  opportunities  are  given  these  men  and  thirty 
years  of  American  influences  are  allowed  to  shape  and  mold 
their  lives.  In  the  winning  of  the  West,  the  Atlantic  states  lost 
much  of  its  best  blood  by  migration,  and  the  same  may  be  said 
of  the  exodus  of  young  men  from  southeastern  European  coun- 
tries to  America.  Every  European  government,  losing  its 
workers  by  emigration,  bemoans  the  fact  and  is  looking  arovmd 
for  some  means  to  check  the  outflow  of  strong  manhood :  would 
any  of  them  do  this  if  the  "  scum,"  "  the  unfortunate,"  "  the 
beaten  "  emigrated  ?  The  vast  majority  of  immigrants  come 
from  agricultural  communities ;  they  are  peasants  and  the 
sons  of  peasants,  a  fact  which  ought  to  count  in  their  favor. 
Would  America  prefer  to  get  the  denizens  of  European  cities? 
Students  of  population  hold  it  as  an  axiom,  that  the  cities  must 
depend  upon  the  country  for  a  constant  inflow  of  brain  and  brawn 
to  keep  up  its  supply  of  virile  manhood.  Is  it  different  in 
Europe?  Is  the  "  scum  of  the  earth  "  grown  on  farms  on  the 
continent?  The  slums  of  Europe  are  not  sent  here.  The  facts 
and  figures  of  immigration  to  the  United  States  clearly  show  that 
the  men  of  the  new  immigration  come  from  the  farm,  and  they 
compare  favorably  in  bodily  form  and  strength  with  men 
raised  in  agricultural  communities  elsewhere.  In  the  stream, 
undesirables  are  found,  but  the  percentage  is  low.  Taken  as  a 
whole,  they  do  not  show  moral  turpitude  above  the  average  of 
civilized  men.  Although  transplanted  into  a  new  environment, 
living  under  abnormal  conditions  in  industrial  centers,  and 
meeting  more  temptations  in  a  week  than  they  would  in  a  life- 
time in  rural  communities  in  the  homeland,  yet  when  their 
criminal  record  is  compared  with  that  of  the  native-born  males, 
it  comes  out  better  than  even. 

Many  Return.  —  All  the  immigrants  landed  do  not  stay  here. 
In  the  decade  1900-1910,  8,795,386  arrived,  but  the  last  census 
enumerators  only  found  13,343,583  foreign-born  in  the  United 


THE  IMMIGRATION  PROBLEM 


343 


States,  as  against  10,213,817,  in  1900.  These  figures  clearly 
indicate  that  little  more  than  60  per  cent  of  the  total  arrivals 
of  that  decade  were  in  the  country  in  19 10.  A  large  percentage 
of  this  returning  stream  represents  men  and  women  who  could 
not  stand  the  stress  and  strain  of  American  life ;  or,  in  other 
words,  the  unfit  were  more  carefully  weeded  out  by  industrial 
competition  than  by  the  laws  regulating  immigration.  This 
again  works  in  favor  of  virile  accretions  to  the  population  of  the 
United  States. 

Gold  taken  Out.  —  We  constantly  hear  about  the  stream  of 
gold  going  to  Europe,  which  reached  high-water  mark  in  1907, 
the  year  when  immigration  exceeded  a  million  and  a  quarter, 
and  the  industrial  boom  was  at  its  height.  In  that  year,  the 
Immigration  Commission  estimated  the  amount  of  money  sent 
back  to  Europe  at  $275,000,000.  America  is  a  great  country, 
and  this  sum  should  be  compared  with  our  industrial  and 
commercial  importance.  The  value  of  the  coal  mined  that  year 
was  nearly  two  and  a  half  times  larger  than  the  sum  sent  to 
Europe  ;  the  products  of  our  mines  were  eight  times  as  valuable  ; 
our  commerce  with  foreign  countries  aggregated  a  sum  more 
than  eleven  times  as  great ;  the  value  of  the  produce  of  the 
farms  of  the  United  States  was  twenty-one  times  as  great ;  the 
value  of  the  products  of  our  manufacturing  was  fifty  times 
larger ;  and  if  we  compare  the  sum  sent  by  immigrants  to  Europe 
during  this  year  of  prosperity  with  the  total  estimated  wealth 
of  the  nation  in  1907,  it  is  about  two-tenths  of  one  per  cent. 
Can  the  economists  and  statesmen,  who,  in  this  great  country 
of  ours,  become  excited  over  this  item,  as  if  the  welfare  of 
America  depended  upon  its  retention  on  this  side  of  the  water,  be 
taken  seriously  ?  We  don't  think  they  take  themselves  seriously. 
Estimate  it  again  in  the  per  capita  amount  to  foreign-born  in 
the  country.  In  1907,  there  were  between  12,000,000  and 
13,000,000  persons  of  foreign  birth  in  America,  so  that  the 
millions  sent  abroad  represented  between  $21  and  $23  per 
foreign-born  person  in  the  land  —  about  two  weeks'  pay.  Is 
this  an  excessive  annual  tribute  to  pay  to  the  countries  which 
gave  these  people  birth,  raised  them  to  the  age  of  productivity, 


344 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


and  then  lost  their  help  in  the  production  of  the  wealth  of  the 
nation?  If  the  annual  production  of  each  of  these  foreign- 
born  persons  amounts  to  $600,  the  sum  per  capita  annually  sent 
to  Europe  would  be  less  than  4  per  cent  of  the  total  wealth  pro- 
duced by  them — a  sum  every  broad-minded  man  thinks 
insignificant  to  make  much  fuss  about. 

The  Most  Dangerous.  —  But  we  are  told  that  "  the  immi- 
grants most  dangerous  are  those  who  come  ...  to  earn  the 
higher  wages  offered  in  the  United  States,  Vkdth  the  fixed  inten- 
tion of  returning  to  their  famihes  in  the  home  country  to  spend 
those  wages."  ^  The  fact  is,  that  the  immigrants  earn  the 
lower  wages  offered  in  the  United  States,  suffer  most  from 
intermittent  and  seasonal  labor,  and,  being  largely  employed 
in  hazardous  industries,  pay  the  major  part  of  the  loss  of  life 
and  limb  incident  to  these  operations.  The  coimtry  owes  a 
debt  to  every  immigrant  who  returns  having  spent  many  years 
of  his  life  in  our  industrial  army.  Since  1907,  the  stream 
returning  to  Europe  has  been  more  than  50  per  cent  of  the 
incoming  one.  These  have  been  years  of  depression  and 
suffering.  For  the  last  three  winters,  the  suffering  of  the 
unemployed  in  our  cities  has  been  great:  would  it  be  to  our 
advantage  to  have  the  2,000,000  souls  who  retm^ed  to  the  home- 
land during  these  years  of  panic  remain  in  the  country  and 
swell  the  army  of  the  unemployed?  Half  a  million  men,  work- 
ing for  seven  months  in  the  year,  keeping  our  railroads  in  repair, 
would  not  injure  the  country  one  iota  if  for  the  remaining  five 
months  they  withdrew  to  the  homeland.  Indeed,  it  needs  but 
a  little  imagination  to  conceive  of  an  economic  situation  that 
might  make  the  presence  of  500,000  idle  men  a  serious  menace 
to  the  peace. 

Bad  Effects.  —  We  are  also  told  that  the  foreigners  have 
reduced  wages  and  affected  the  American  standard  of  li\dng. 
On  the  first  point,  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor, 
after  long  and  patient  investigation,^  has  failed  to  find  a  reduc- 
tion in  wage  in  the  industries  largely  manned  by  immigrants. 

1  "Labor  Problems,"  p.  108.    Adams  and  Sumjier. 
'  Bulletin  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor,  No.  77,  July,  1908. 


THE  IMMIGRATION  PROBLEM 


345 


Is  it  not  a  fact  that  wages  were  never  as  high  in  the  industries 
of  the  United  States  as  in  1907,  the  year  when  immigration 
touched  high-water  mark  and  1,285,349  came  to  America? 
The  immigrants  from  southeastern  Europe,  when  they  under- 
stand what  the  standard  wage  is,  will  fight  for  it  with  far  greater 
sohdarity  than  the  Anglo-Saxon  or  the  Teuton.  The  most 
stubborn  strikes  in  recent  years  have  been  the  anthracite 
coal  strike,  the  McKees  Rocks,  the  Westmoreland,  etc.,  in 
each  of  which  the  men  of  the  new  immigration  were  in  the 
majority.  It  would  be  difficult  to  give  concrete  instances  of 
foreigners  actually  reducing  wages,  but  many  instances  may  be 
given  where  they  have  stubbornly  resisted  a  reduction  and 
bravely  fought  for  an  increased  wage.  As  to  the  second  point, 
the  American  standard  of  Uving  is  a  shifting  one.  In  the  mill 
towns  and  mine  patches  of  West  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and 
Alabama,  the  foreigners  would  have  to  come  down  many 
degrees  in  order  to  conform  with  the  standard  of  living  of  Ameri- 
cans of  purest  blood.  In  a  town  in  New  England,  a  banker  said 
that  the  New  England  Yankee  was  in  his  capacity  to  save 
money  a  close  second  to  the  Magyar,  who  led  the  foreigners  in 
this  respect.  Put  the  native-born  on  $450  a  year  —  the  average 
wage  of  foreigners  —  and  will  he  be  able  to  build  a  home,  raise 
a  family,  and  push  the  children  several  degrees  up  in  the  eco- 
nomic scale?  The  immigrants  are  doing  this.  Suppose  the 
new  immigration  had  kept  away,  would  the  wages  of  unskilled 
labor  be  higher  ?  This  leads  us  to  the  region  of  conjecture.  One 
thing  we  know,  that  the  wage  has  steadily  advanced  notwith- 
standing the  unprecedented  inflow  of  the  last  decade.  The 
student  of  the  wage  question  must  face  this  economic  fact, 
that  the  annual  wage  of  90  per  cent  of  the  male  industrial 
workers  of  America  is  below  $1000.^  Of  this  90  per  cent,  half 
the  men  do  not  get  more  than  $600  a  year.  Is  the  American 
standard  of  living  on  $600  a  year  basis  higher  than  that  of 

'  The  native-bom  wage  earners  of  native  parentage,  heads  of  families,  have  13 
per  cent  getting  more  than  $1000  a  year  and  54.7  per  cent  getting  less  than  $600. 
Of  the  native-born  of  foreign  parentage  the  percentages  are  13.7  and  54.6,  respec- 
tively, and  of  the  foreign-bom  the  figures  are  2.8  and  70.0,  respectively.  See 
Table  XIX  in  addenda. 


346 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


thousands  of  homes  of  foreign-born  parents?  Never  before 
in  industrial  America  has  the  income  of  heads  of  families  been 
higher  than  at  present,  and  in  every  home  the  $600  rigorously 
prescribe  the  amount  which  can  be  spent  for  shelter,  food,  and 
clothing,  and  this  is  exactly  what  it  does  to  the  immigrants. 
The  S600  a  year  American  standard  of  U\'ing  cannot  be  pulled 
down  —  it  is  already  within  sight  of  the  star\'ation  line.^  It  is 
not  our  purpose  to  aflSrm  or  deny  "  the  iron  law  of  wages," 
but  54  per  cent  of  the  wage  earners  of  America,  whether  native 
or  foreign-born,  must  subsist  on  the  above  annual  wage,  and  it 
determines  the  standard  of  li\dng. 

Racial  Suicide.  —  We  are  further  told  that  "  the  immigrants 
are  not  additional  inhabitants,"  but  that  "  their  coming  displaces 
the  native  stock  " ;  "  that  the  racial  suicide  is  closely  con- 
nected with  the  problem  of  immigration."  If  "  racial  suicide  " 
were  a  phenomenon  peculiar  to  the  United  States,^  there  would 
be  force  in  the  argument.  There  is  no  immigration  into  France, 
and  yet  sterihty  and  a  low  birth  rate  have  been  the  concern  of 
statesmen  and  moralists  in  that  country  for  the  last  quarter 
of  a  century.  The  same  phenomenon  is  observed  among  the 
middle  classes  in  England  and  the  Scandinavian  peninsula. 
Artificial  restriction  on  natality  is  practiced  in  every  industrial 
country  by  men  and  women  whose  income  is  such  that  they 
must  choose  between  raising  a  family  or  maintaining  their 
social  status.  One  or  the  other  of  these  two  institutions  must 
suffer  and  it  is  generally  the  family.  This  is  the  case  in  America. 
The  native-bom  clerk,  tradesman,  machinist,  professional  man, 
etc.,  whose  income  ranges  between  S800  and  $1200  a  year,  can 
hardly  risk  matrimony  in  an  urban  community.  If  he  does 
take  a  wife,  they  can  hardly  afford  to  raise  one  child,  while 

1  The  special  committee  on  the  standard  of  living  of  New  York,  working  for 
the  Russell  Sage  Foundation,  found  that  an  income  of  less  than  $600  a  year  for  all 
purposes  will  not  pro\'ide  adequate  food  supply  for  a  family  in  New  York  City.  With 
an  income  of  from  $600  to  S800,  one  family  in  three  is  underfed,  while  less  than  one 
in  ten  of  the  famihes  ha\'ing  from  S900  to  Siooo  fall  short  of  the  minimum  of  food. 

'  The  registrar-general  of  Great  Britain  gives  comparative  figures  of  the  birth 
rate  in  leading  European  countries  for  1881  and  ipoS.  In  each  instance,  ex- 
cepting Bulgaria  and  Russia,  the  birth  rate  has  decreased  from  2  to  6  per  1000 
inhabitants.    See  Table  XX  in  addenda. 


THE  IMMIGRATION  PROBLEM 


347 


two  cause  great  anxiety.  A  low  birth  rate  is  a  condition  that 
is  superinduced  by  industrial  development.  The  opportunity 
for  advancement,  social  prestige,  love  of  power  and  its  retention 
in  the  family,  etc.,  these  are  some  of  the  causes  of  a  low  birth 
rate.  "  But  greater  than  any  other  cause  is  '  the  deliberate 
and  voluntary  avo.dance  of  child-bearing  on  the  part  of  a  steadily 
increasing  number  of  married  people,  who  not  only  prefer  to 
have  but  few  children,  but  who  know  how  to  obtain  their  wish.' 
Immigration  is  no  more  the  cause  of  racial  suicide  than  the 
countryside  superstition  that  a  plentiful  crop  of  nuts  is  the  cause 
of  fecundity. 

Licenses  Given.  —  The  foreigners  have  many  undesirable 
qualities,  and  chief  among  these  is  their  love  for  drink.  Wher- 
ever the  immigrants  live  in  colonies,  the  number  of  saloons  in 
these  localities  is  large.  These  drinking  dens  are  scenes  of 
vice  and  debauchery.  They  are  responsible,  either  directly 
or  indirectly,  for  60  per  cent  of  the  crime  committed  by  them. 
But  in  every  state  of  the  Union  laws  regulating  the  hquor  traffic 
are  in  vogue,  and  the  executive  power  is  in  the  hands  of  men  of 
native  birth.  In  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  the  right  to  grant 
licenses  is  in  the  hands  of  the  judges  of  the  Courts  of  Quarter 
Sessions,  and  in  no  section  of  the  countr>'has  the  power  been  more 
abused.  These  cultured  and  capable  men,  in  many  counties, 
have  given  licenses  to  foreigners  to  sell  intoxicants  regardless 
of  the  needs  of  the  towns,  the  sentiment  of  decent  people,  or  the 
welfare  of  the  communities.  This  shameful  abuse  of  power  is 
due  to  two  causes,  greed  and  politics :  the  greed  of  men  in  the 
brewery  business  is  limitless  and  they  have  the  ears  of  the  court ; 
the  cunning  of  politicians  who  use  saloons  as  centers  of  influ- 
ence to  control  the  foreign  vote  is  equally  selfish.  But  with 
very  rare  exceptions  the  men  on  the  bench,  in  the  brewery 
business,  and  in  politics,  dominated  by  these  motives,  are 
native-born.  The  Keystone  state  places  the  power  of  granting 
licenses  in  the  hands  of  judges  for  the  purpose  of  regulating  the 
liquor  traffic  according  to  the  well-being  of  industrial  com- 
munities.   These  men  have  the  power  to  limit  the  number  of 

'See  "Modern  Social  Conditions,"  by  Professor  \V.  B.  Bailey,  pp.  105-106. 


348 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


licenses  given  foreigners  or  other  men  catering  to  their  appetite 
for  strong  drink.  They  saw  at  every  session  of  the  court  how 
the  immigrants  were  debauched  by  liquor  and  how  appalhng 
was  their  crime  record  because  of  intoxicants ;  and  yet  without 
consideration  to  their  oath  of  ofi&ce,  without  regard  to  their 
patriotic  duty,  and  in  the  teeth  of  the  demands  of  the  Christian 
conscience,  they  issue  the  right  to  sell  liquor  to  these  men  at 
the  rate  of  one  license  per  hundred  people  —  men,  women,  and 
children.  Can  we  blame  the  foreigners  for  their  jamborees, 
their  lawlessness,  and  their  vice  under  conditions  of  this  kind? 
They  are  much  like  children,  and  should  be  treated  as  such  in  the 
question  of  drink.  If  the  governments  of  the  several  states  in 
the  immigration  zone  had  restricted  the  number  of  licenses 
granted  foreigners  to  one  to  every  five  hundred  persons,  the 
disgraceful  orgies  common  in  foreign  colonies  would  not  be  wit- 
nessed, the  heinous  crimes  committed  in  drink  would  not  be  as 
common,  and  the  liquor  laws  of  each  commonwealth  would  be 
better  enforced. 

Laws  on  Housing.  —  The  housing  conditions  of  many  immi- 
grants in  industrial  centers  are  disgraceful.  Men  who  work 
for  $1.35  a  day  want  cheap  rent  and  they  crowd  in  unsanitary 
quarters,  but  in  industrial  centers  these  houses  are  owned  by 
native-born  men,  are  supervised  by  the  native-born,  and  the 
boards  of  health  in  cities  are  invariably  made  up  of  native-born 
men.  When  rickety  shacks  are  offered  foreigners  to  Live  in  by 
native-born  employers,  we  cannot  blame  the  immigrants  for 
occupying  them  —  this  is  the  only  shelter  offered,  and  the  alter- 
native is  the  open  field.  When  industrial  prosperity  comes, 
the  number  of  workers  increases  and  in  every  industrial  com- 
munity houses  are  scarce.  When  foreigners  look  for  houses, 
they  must  take  the  dilapidated,  which  are  located  in  the  most 
unfavorable  part  of  town,  but  they  cannot  help  themselves,  we 
cannot  blame  them ;  it  is  Hobson's  choice.  When  native-born 
men  put  up  bunkhouses  and  expect  the  foreigners  to  take  care 
of  them,  can  we  blame  the  men  if  the  place  is  dirty  and  smells 
badly?  Men  who  work  hard  every  day  have  Uttle  inclination 
to  clean  house  at  night.    If  twenty  men  occupy  a  bunkhouse, 


THE  IMMIGRATION  PROBLEM 


349 


some  shirkers  are  found  among  them,  and  their  example  is 
contagious.  The  science  of  sanitation  has  laid  down  laws  for 
camp,  town,  and  city  Ufe,  and  it  is  generally  conceded  that  it  is 
the  duty  of  every  municipality,  having  the  preservation  and 
promotion  of  public  health  in  view,  to  see  that  the  housing 
conditions  of  foreigners  are  sanitary.  But  should  we  not  go 
farther  than  this  and  ask :  is  it  not  our  duty  also  to  teach  these 
people  how  to  live  in  crowded  sections  of  the  city,  and  avoid 
conditions  which  breed  diseases  and  produce  poisons  which 
endanger  life?  If  this  is  our  duty,  the  obligation  of  leadership 
must  rest  on  the  native-born ;  for  they  are  the  men  in  authority, 
they  have  the  scientific  knowledge,  and  they  have  the  means  to 
democratize  it  and  bring  it  within  reach  of  the  tens  of  thou- 
sands of  families  of  backward  nations  residing  in  our  cities. 

Laxity  of  Laws.  —  The  crime  record  of  the  foreigners  attracts 
much  attention.  Heinous  crimes  have  been  committed  by 
foreign-born  persons;  some  foreign  communities  have  attained 
notoriety  for  their  vice,  crime,  and  anarchy.  But  most  of  the 
immigrants  come  from  countries  where  deference  to  authority 
is  a  cardinal  virtue ;  why  do  they  lose  this  quality  when  they 
come  to  America  ?  One  would  expect  that  deference  to  authority, 
which  is  so  well  grounded  in  the  peoples  of  southeastern  Europe, 
would  deepen  and  grow  stronger  in  a  new  country  where  men 
are  anxious  to  be  thought  well  of,  but  the  contrary  is  the  case. 
Must  we  not  seek  the  cause  in  the  new  environment?  Is  it 
not  due  to  the  spirit  of  America,  the  freedom  from  restraint 
and  espionage  on  the  part  of  government  officials,  and  the  tone 
of  the  pubUc  press.  Too  many  foreigners,  soon  after  they 
have  come  to  the  United  States,  feel  that  the  spirit  of  lawless- 
ness in  the  air  is  contagious.  The  Americans  and  the  Ameri- 
canized with  whom  they  come  in  contact  speak  of  violations 
of  law  as  a  thing  of  common  occurrence.  Our  leading  daiUes 
in  large  cities  recklessly  charge  corporations  and  men  of  affairs 
with  willful  lawlessness.  Foreigners  also  observe  that  the  laws 
regulating  the  liquor  traffic  are,  for  the  most  part,  dead  letters, 
and  their  leaders  violate  them  with  impimity.  Hundreds  of 
these  men  in  industrial  communities  soon  learn  how  to  avoid 


350 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


an  inconvenient  statute  by  the  power  of  the  dollar.  They  have 
also  seen  the  man  with  a  political  pull,  setting  at  defiiance  the 
laws  regulating  elections,  prosper  by  lawlessness  and  cunning, 
while  men  with  criminal  records  hold  positions  of  responsibility. 
These  conditions  affect  the  foreigners,  but  are  not  of  their 
making.  The  native-born  are  responsible  for  them,  and, 
considering  these  anti-social  tendencies  in  urban  communities, 
the  wonder  is  that  the  immigrant  is  as  law-abiding  as  he  is,  sur- 
rounded by  so  many  agencies  that  tend  to  break  down  respect 
for  law  and  order. 

Work  needed  Done.  —  The  foreigners  are  despised  for  the 
work  they  do.  Must  this  work  be  done?  Can  America  get 
along  without  sewer  digging,  construction  work,  tunnel  driving, 
coal  mining,  meat  packing,  hide  tanning,  etc.  —  disagreeable 
work,  which  the  English-speaking  shun?  This  labor  is  neces- 
sary and  the  foreigners  do  it  uncomplainingly.  Should  they  be 
contemned,  despised,  and  dubbed  "  the  scum  of  the  earth  " 
for  doing  basic  work  which  we  all  know  is  a  necessity,  but  which 
we  ourselves  will  not  perform?  A  percentage  of  foreigners  is 
illiterate,  and  a  still  larger  percentage  is  unskilled,  but  every  one 
who  has  studied  these  men  knows  that  they  have  common  sense, 
meekness,  patience,  submission,  docility,  and  gratitude  —  qual- 
ities which  have  made  them  admirably  suited  for  the  coarse 
work  America  needs  done.  The  accident  of  birth  accounts 
largely  for  skill  in  reading  and  writing  as  well  as  for  a  knowledge 
of  the  trades :  we  cannot  choose  the  country  of  our  birth  any 
more  than  hereditary  tendencies ;  why,  then,  should  we  blame 
men  for  the  consequence  of  these  accidents?  The  best  judges 
of  America's  need  of  unskilled  labor  are  employers,  men  of 
affairs,  and  leaders  in  the  industrial  development  of  the  nation, 
and  these  without  exception  say  that  the  foreigner  has  been  a 
blessing  and  not  a  curse.  In  1910,  the  National  Board  of 
Trade  received  letters  from  ninety-three  such  men,^  residing  in 

■  The  93  letters  received  represented  23  governors,  16  mayors,  10  chambers  of 
commerce,  3  commercial  clubs,  28  railroad  presidents,  6  boards  of  trade,  and  7 
others  equally  prominent  in  public  affairs.  See  Hearing  before  Committee  on 
Immigration  and  Naturalization,  House  of  Representatives,  pp.  150  f. 


THE  IMMIGRATION  PROBLEM 


thirty-five  states,  expressing  their  views  as  to  the  effect  of 
immigration  on  labor  and  the  industries,  and  the  following  is 
the  summary  of  their  answers  :  — 

1.  That  the  general  effect  of  immigration  to  this  country  has 
been  beneficial. 

2.  That  immigration  so  far  has  not  constituted  a  menace 
to  American  labor. 

3.  That  it  is  still  needed  for  our  industrial  and  commercial 
development. 

In  view  of  these  conclusions,  the  right  of  the  foreigner  to 
respect  and  honorable  treatment  from  Americans  ought  to  be 
acknowledged ;  the  credit  due  him  for  the  part  he  has  played  in 
the  industrial  development  of  America  should  be  freely  given ; 
his  right  to  the  free  enjoyment  of  the  fruit  of  his  labor  wherever 
he  chooses  to  spend  his  money  should  be  conceded ;  but  unfor- 
tunately none  of  these  rights  is  recognized  by  a  vast  number 
of  native-born  men  in  the  immigration  zone. 

Philosophy  and  Practice.  —  As  a  philosophical  reflection, 
"  a  slow  expansion  of  industry  which  would  permit  the  adoption 
and  assimilation  of  the  incoming  labor  supply  is  preferable  to  a 
very  rapid  industrial  expansion  which  results  in  the  immigra- 
tion of  laborers  of  low  standards  and  efficiency,  who  imperil 
the  American  standard  of  wages  and  conditions  of  employment  " 
is  admirable ;  but  when  the  mine  operators  have  a  chance  in  a 
year  to  market  600,000,000  tons  of  coal,  and  the  iron  and  steel 
manufacturers  have  a  demand  for  20,000,000  tons  of  steel,  they 
rejoice,  and  produce  the  goods.  We  expect  them  to  do  it  and 
would  consider  them  unpatriotic  if  they  did  otherwise.  We  all 
wait  patiently  for  the  coming  industrial  boom.  When  it  comes, 
we  shall  rejoice,  quote  startling  figures  of  industrial  prosperity, 
trade  expansion,  returns  of  clearing  houses,  bank  deposits,  etc., 
and  congratulate  the  captains  of  industry  for  their  splendid 
work.  But  we  seldom  think  of  the  pressure  imposed  by  an 
industrial  boom  upon  superintendents  and  foremen  who  must 
man  the  plants.  Their  duty  is  to  get  men,  and  if  the  home 
market  cannot  supply  them,  they  will  draw  from  Europe.  In- 
dustrial prosperity  means  dust,  delving,  danger,  and  death,  and 


352 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


the  home-born  shirk  these,  but  the  immigrants  buoyantly  accept 
them.  When  the  sum  total  of  productive  goods  is  large,  no 
nation  bewails  it  as  a  misfortune  any  more  than  a  city  bewails 
the  increase  of  its  population ;  but  if  we  rejoice  in  the  enjoyment 
of  a  rich  harvest,  ought  we  not  also  assume  the  responsibiUty 
of  training  backward  men  in  American  ideals  rather  than  criti- 
cize them?  If  the  foreigners  answer  the  call  of  American 
employers,  they  should  be  welcomed.  The  greatest  obstacle 
to-day,  in  the  United  States,  to  the  assimilation  of  the  immigrants 
is  the  prejudice  and  antipathy  of  the  native-born.  It  is  fostered 
and  intensified  by  constant  reiteration  of  the  defects  and  fail- 
ings of  immigrants  in  press  and  on  platform,  to  the  forgetfulness 
of  what  we  owe  them  in  the  part  they  have  played  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  country.  This  is  not  right,  and  the  foreigners 
know  it  and  feel  it.  These  men  ask  for  a  square  deal ;  when  it 
is  given  them,  the  problem  of  immigration  will  soon  be  solved. 

More  Laws.  —  Both  the  Federal  government  and  that  of  cer- 
tain states  have,  for  nearly  a  century,  been  seriously  concerned 
with  laws  regulating  immigration,  and  we  are  planning  still 
more  legislation.  Congress,  ha\'ing  spent  in  the  last  four  years 
more  than  $700,000  in  investigations  of  immigrant  conditions 
in  Europe  and  America,  must  do  something.  The  Sixty-second 
Congress  is  taking  up  anew  the  question  and  at  present  a  new  bill 
is  being  discussed  by  our  statesmen.  The  Conclusions  and  Rec- 
ommendations of  the  Immigration  Commission  have  furnished 
the  basis  for  discussion,  but  we  are  safe  in  saying  that  the  legisla- 
tion suggested  by  the  Commission  will  not  be  adopted  any  more 
than  previous  measures  of  similar  tone  and  content. 

International  Relations.  —  The  question  of  immigration  is 
an  international  one,  and  the  comity  of  nations  ought  to  suggest 
a  discussion  of  the  question  by  an  international  conference. 
Such  a  gathering  would,  under  the  leadership  of  Anglo-Saxon 
and  Teutonic  nations,  reach  an  agreement  that  would  be  bene- 
ficial to  the  weak  as  well  as  the  strong,  to  the  free  as  well  as  the 
oppressed.  The  Immigration  Commission  recommends  that 
the  "  general  poUcy  adopted  by  Congress  in  1882  of  excluding 
Chinese  laborers  should  be  continued,"  regardless  of  the  fact 


'THE  IMMIGRATION  PROBLEM 


353 


that  this  event  "  changed  the  poUcy  of  the  government,  [was 
in]  contradiction  with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States," 
and  was  the  occasion  on  which  "  we  turned  our  backs  on  the 
principle  of  freedom  of  migration  and  passed  laws  excluding  the 
Chinese  as  effectually  as  they  had  ever  excluded  foreigners." 
With  Japan  and  Korea,  the  Commission  recommends  that  the 
mutual  satisfactory  agreement  already  established  be  permitted 
to  stand,  while  "  an  understanding  should  be  reached  with  the 
British  government  whereby  East  Indian  laborers  would  be 
effectively  prevented  from  coming  to  the  United  States."  No 
suggestion  is  given  as  to  an  international  conference,  and 
nothing  is  said  of  an  agreement  with  the  governments  of  south- 
eastern Europe,  thousands  of  whose  subjects  we  turn  back  each 
year,  and  thousands  more  having  landed  endure  hardships  and 
wrongs  in  America,  which,  if  published,  would  melt  a  heart  of 
stone.  Every  government  in  Europe  is  concerned  about  this 
important  question,  and  it  can  only  be  settled  justly  and  satis- 
factorily by  an  international  conference  in  which  every  nation 
is  represented.  Upon  this  matter,  however,  the  Immigration 
Commission  has  no  recommendation  to  make. 

Other  Recommendations.  —  It  recommends  that  "  govern- 
ment officials  "  be  placed  on  vessels  carrying  steerage  passengers, 
and  that  "  the  system  inaugurated  by  the  Commission  of  send- 
ing investigators  in  the  steerage  in  the  guise  of  immigrants 
should  be  continued,"  for  the  purpose  possibly  of  watching  the 
official  watchers.  The  aliens  who  attempt  to  persuade  immi- 
grants not  to  become  American  citizens  should  be  made  subject 
to  deportation,  but  the  native-born  who  wrongs  the  foreigner 
and  estranges  him  is  a  tenfold  greater  barrier  to  the  assimilation 
of  aliens,  but  no  recommendation  is  made  regarding  him.  The 
Commission  believes  that  there  is  an  over-supply  of  imskilled 
labor  in  the  country  and  demands  "  legislation  which  will  at 
the  present  time  restrict  the  further  admission  of  such  un- 
skilled labor."  Among  the  ways  suggested  to  accomplish  this 
result  are :  "  the  limitation  of  the  number  of  each  race  " ;  the 
excluding  of  aliens  who  "  by  reason  of  their  personal  quahties 
and  habits  would  least  readily  be  assimilated  or  would  make 


354 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


the  least  desirable  citizens  " ;  and  "  the  exclusion  of  unskilled 
laborers  unaccompanied  by  wives  or  families."  An  immigration 
policy,  following  these  recommendations,  would  soon  exclude  the 
Slavs,  the  southern  ItaUans,  the  Greeks,  the  peoples  of  the 
Balkan  states,  and  others  from  eastern  Europe  and  western 
Asia.  It  also  recommends  the  adoption  of  the  literary  test,  an 
increase  in  the  head  tax,  and  that  the  sum  "  of  money  required 
to  be  in  the  possession  of  the  immigrant  at  the  port  of  arrival  " 
should  be  larger.  It  suggests  that  the  di\dsion  of  information 
of  the  Immigration  Bureau  should  increase  its  effort  to  attract 
immigrants  to  the  land,  but  it  has  no  suggestions  to  make  as  to 
safeguarding  immigrants  to  their  destination,  or  protecting  them 
from  the  vampires  found  around  railroad  depots  in  important 
distributing  centers,  such  as  Philadelphia,  Buffalo,  Pittsburgh, 
Chicago,  etc. 

Too  Much  Legislation.  —  We  have  reason  to  beUeve  that 
immigration  to  the  United  States  suffers  from  too  much  legis- 
lation. Multiplicity  of  laws  will  not  secure  to  the  United  States 
immunity  from  the  e\'ils  of  immigration.  Each  new  barrier 
erected  invites  the  cunning  and  duplicity  of  shrewd  foreigners 
to  overcome  it  and  affords  an  opportunity  to  exploit  the  ignorant. 
It  is  the  duty  of  the  government  to  guard  the  gates  against  the 
diseased,  the  insane,  and  the  criminal,  and  our  present  laws,  in 
the  hands  of  competent  men,  do  this.  The  immigrant  has  a 
right  to  look  for  transportation  conveniences  on  steamships  and 
accommodations  in  detention  stations,  which  comply  with  the 
demands  of  sanitary  science  and  personal  hygiene.  Every 
important  distributing  center  should  have  detention  halls, 
where  the  immigrants  could  be  kept  until  called  for  by  friends 
or  guided  by  responsible  parties  to  their  destination.  America 
collects  $4  per  head  from  all  immigrants  coming  to  the  country. 
Canada  spends  that  amoimt  per  head  to  give  the  newcomers 
the  necessary  information  as  to  agricultural  opportunities  and 
economic  conditions,  so  that  the  men  may  exercise  their  judg- 
ment as  to  place  to  locate  and  employment  to  seek.  The  immi- 
grants will  never  be  distributed  in  the  states  and  the  communities 
where  their  labor  would  count  for  most,  as  long  as  the  hands  of 


THE  IMMIGRATION  PROBLEM 


355 


the  division  of  information  of  the  Bureau  of  Immigration  are 
tied  by  the  want  of  funds  to  fulfill  the  purpose  for  which  it 
was  created.  The  attempt  to  regulate  the  inflow  of  immi- 
grants by  legislation  according  to  the  labor  supply  of  this 
country  is  impracticable  and  will  inevitably  lead  to  political 
skirmishing.  Who  is  to  decide  the  condition  of  the  labor 
market,  the  operators  or  the  trades-union  ?  Economic  law  will 
regulate  this  far  more  effectually  and  promptly.  While  the  rec- 
ommendations of  the  Immigration  Commission  wait  the  action 
of  Congress,  industrial  depression  has  driven  2,000,000  workers 
out  of  the  country.  If  the  "  Conclusions  and  Recommenda- 
tions "  of  the  Commission  were  written  in  1907  instead  of 
1910,  their  tone  would  be  very  different.  A  few  efl&cient  laws 
left  alone  and  well  executed  are  better  than  many  statutes,  con- 
tinuous legislative  tinkering,  and  inefficiency. 

Private  Efforts.  —  The  assimilation  of  the  immigrants  must 
depend  more  upon  private  effort  than  upon  legislation.  No 
action  of  either  Federal  or  state  government  can  do  half  as 
much  for  aliens  wishing  to  join  the  family  as  the  conduct  of 
Americans  in  the  immigration  zone,  who  can  help  this  cause  more 
by  throwing  open  the  school  building  than  by  urging  the  enact- 
ment of  state  laws  concerning  the  illiteracy  of  foreigners. 
Centers  opened  in  every  public  school  in  foreign  colonies,  where 
immigrants  could  be  taught,  would  do  more  for  foreigners  in 
one  year,  than  ten  years  of  legislative  inhibition  as  to  what  the 
foreigners  should  or  should  not  do.  In  every  city,  town,  and 
village  where  immigrants  live,  public  buildings  could  be  used  to 
impart  instruction  which  the  foreigners  need  in  order  to  be 
assimilated  ;  in  almost  every  foreign  colony  the  question  of 
getting  a  suitable  place  often  defeats  honest  efforts  to  institute 
schools  for  their  benefit.  Socializing  municipal  property 
would  solve  this  difficulty.  The  room  in  which  instruction  in 
English  and  citizenship  is  given  foreigners  should  be  made  as 
attractive  as  possible  and  should  harmonize  with  the  purpose  for 
which  it  is  used.  The  portraits  of  heroes  and  makers  of  America, 
men  and  women  of  whom  we  are  proud,  should  adorn  the 
walls.    The  atmosphere  of  the  school  should  be  patriotic  and 


356 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


the  men  and  women  of  foreign  birth,  coming  there  to  study 
and  receive  instruction,  should  feel  that  America  can  mean  to 
them,  as  it  meant  to  milhons  who  came  before,  the  land  of  op- 
portunity. 

The  Public  School.  —  The  public  school,  for  several  reasons, 
is  not  the  best  agency  to  do  this  work.  The  teaching  of 
EngUsh  to  adult  foreigners  is  a  wholly  different  problem  from 
that  of  teaching  children  their  mother  tongue.  Teachers 
employed  in  the  daytime,  and  given  a  Uving  wage,  ought  to 
earn  their  money.  If  they  do,  they  are  not  fit  to  work  overtime. 
Superintendents  of  city  schools  have  more  than  they  can  gener- 
ally accomplish  ;  they  have  not  the  time  to  give  to  the  problem 
of  teaching  immigrants.  Public  school  teachers  having  peda- 
gogical instinct,  resourcefulness,  and  common  sense  do  good 
work  among  immigrants,  but  persons  so  qualified  are  rare ;  the 
ordinary  teacher  follows  the  ways  laid  down  on  the  written  page, 
which  admirably  fit  the  work  he  does,  but  are  not  applicable  to  a 
group  of  foreigners,  and  he  cannot  hold  their  interest.  The 
teaching  of  English  to  adult  foreigners  is  a  problem  by  itself, 
wholly  distinct  from  the  routine  work  of  the  public  schools ; 
it  demands  adaptability,  ingenuity,  resourcefulness,  and  sym- 
pathy on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  as  well  as  a  system  of  instruc- 
tion wholly  different  from  that  used  in  the  primary  grades. 
These  considerations  lead  me  to  beUeve  that  the  education  of 
the  immigrants  demands  a  special  superintendent,  a  special 
corps  of  teachers,  and  a  special  system.  Cities  having  5000 
or  more  immigrants  should  make  special  appropriations  for  the 
work  of  assimilation,  employ  a  competent  man  to  give  all  his 
time  to  the  study  of  the  foreigners  in  the  city,  get  them  into 
schools,  map  out  courses  of  study  adapted  to  their  needs,  secure 
teachers,  and  train  them  to  do  the  work.  The  use  of  every 
public  building  should  be  at  his  disposal,  and  along  with  instruc- 
tion in  English  and  citizenship,  he  should  plan  a  series  of  lec- 
tures to  be  given  periodically  throughout  the  winter  to  the 
foreigners  of  the  city.  If  cities  where  foreigners  live  are  not 
disposed  to  make  this  investment,  they  should  be  willing  to  put 
the  school  buildings,  together  with  heat,  light,  and  janitor  service, 


THE  IMMIGRATION  PROBLEM 


357 


at  the  disposal  of  any  reliable  organization  undertaking  to  help 
the  foreigners.  Patriotic  men,  in  every  city  in  the  immigration 
zone,  feel  an  obligation  toward  the  foreigners  which  cannot  be 
discharged  by  the  action  of  councilmen  or  by  school  directors. 
The  best  agency  for  the  work  is  a  committee  of  public-spirited 
citizens,  organized  for  the  purpose  of  helping  the  foreigners, 
and  having  at  their  disposal  the  use  of  public  buildings.  When 
this  is  done,  a  better  understanding  of  the  foreigner  soon 
follows,  and  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  community  is  pro- 
moted. 

Private  Agencies.  —  The  other  needs  of  the  immigrants  must 
also  be  met  by  education,  which  will  be  most  effective  when 
done  by  private  citizens.  Laws  passed  upon  housing,  con- 
tagious diseases,  garbage,  the  disposal  of  refuse,  etc.,  will  do 
little  good  unless  the  people  are  taught  how  to  live  and  act  in 
crowded  communities.  It  is  ignorance  that  kills  and  inca- 
pacitates. American  civiUzation  means  enlightenment  and 
responsibiUty,  and  before  we  can  hold  the  immigrants  respon- 
sible for  conditions  that  are  a  menace  to  health,  we  must  give 
them  the  light.  The  foreigners  want  to  enjoy  health  and  life, 
they  want  to  preserve  Ufe  in  its  fullness :  if  the  principles  of 
hygiene  and  sanitation  are  presented  to  them  and  the  danger  of 
crowding,  bad  air,  filth,  and  contagion  is  shown,  they  will  Hsten 
and  learn.  This  is  the  only  reasonable  way  to  solve  the  problem. 
To  send  a  dozen  men  with  clubs  to  scare,  arrest,  and  mulct  is 
not  the  way  to  teach  the  people  how  to  live.  The  law  is  a  thing 
of  terror,  but  to  raise  men  above  the  fear  of  the  law  by  conscious 
comphance  with  reasonable  demands  based  on  nature's  sugges- 
tions should  be  our  aim  in  this  democracy.  The  foreigners, 
unless  they  are  taught  how  to  Hve  and  how  to  obey  the  law, 
will  remain  in  their  ignorance  and  suffer.  Let  the  social  settle- 
ments, civic  clubs,  patriotic  organizations,  and  other  philan- 
thropic and  charitable  agencies  take  up  the  matter  of  prepar- 
ing popular  lectures  and  execute  the  necessary  slides  to  illustrate 
them,  so  as  to  present  this  knowledge  to  the  people,  and  a  far 
greater  amount  of  good  will  be  accompHshed  than  by  spending 
money  and  time  to  knock  at  the  door  of  legislatures,  pass  laws, 


358 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


and  imagine  that  the  evils  against  which  they  are  directed  are 
removed. 

Foreigners  should  Help.  —  In  the  effort  to  enlighten  the 

immigrants,  both  the  native-  and  the  foreign-bom  should  co- 
operate. The  foreigners  have  their  organizations  and  their 
leaders ;  societies  of  some  sort  or  other  touch  every  tovvn  where 
foreigners  Uve,  and  every  group  has  its  leader.  No  legislation 
can  enlist  the  cooperation  and  interest  of  these  men  in  behalf 
of  American  ideals ;  but  personal  contact,  intelUgent  sym- 
pathy, and  deep  interest  in  their  well-being  -wtH  enlist  their 
support.  When  the  best  brains  among  the  foreigners  and  the 
native-bom  join  hands  for  the  redemption  of  the  foreign 
colony  from  ignorance,  isolation,  and  clannishness,  beneficent 
results  will  soon  be  realized.  Isolation  is  the  greatest  wrong 
to  the  foreigner.  He  should  not  be  left  to  himself.  The  aggres- 
siveness of  patriotic  missionaries  should  be  felt  in  every  foreign 
colony.  American  standards  should  be  brought  to  the  homes 
of  the  foreign-born.  American  institutions  should  be  intro- 
duced. American  customs  and  habits  should  be  explained. 
American  law  in  city,  state,  and  nation  should  be  made 
known  and  interpreted.  In  thus  intelligently  attacking,  by 
the  weapons  of  modem  civilization,  the  wall  of  partition 
now  separating  the  foreign  colony  from  the  rest  of  the  com- 
munity, we  would  soon  see  it  crvimble  to  the  groimd.  In 
the  attack,  however,  let  us  not  forget  that  the  brightest  and 
most  broad-minded  sons  of  the  immigrants  should  be  enlisted 
for  service. 

Distribution  of  Foreigners.  —  Any  scheme  of  distribution 
that  leaves  out  of  account  the  leaders  of  the  foreigners  and 
their  societies  will  not  go  very  far.  The  National  Conference  of 
Immigration,  which  convened  in  Washington,  D.C.,  December, 
191 1,  urged  the  organization  of  state  bureaus  to  cooperate  with 
the  division  of  information  of  the  Bureau  of  Immigration. 
Representatives  of  twenty-five  different  states  came  together, 
but  no  representative  of  any  of  the  national  societies  of  the 
foreigners  was  invited  to  sit  with  them  in  the  discussion  of  the 
important  question  of  the  distribution  of  immigrants.  The 


THE  IMMIGRATION  PROBLEM 


359 


division  of  information  has  tried  hard  amid  many  difficulties 
to  distribute  the  immigrants,  but  last  year  it  only  succeeded 
in  helping  4283  cases,  while  more  than  800,000  immigrants 
came  into  the  United  States.  Suppose  a  Carnegie  or  a  Rocke- 
feller were  to  place  a  fund  of  $10,000,000  in  trust  for  the  purpose 
of  purchasing  abandoned  farms ;  then  in  conjunction  with  such 
societies  as  the  Polish  National  Alliance,  the  Slovak  National 
Alliance,  etc.,  organize  agricultural  colonies,  and  in  each  put  a 
man  in  charge  as  superintendent  and  instructor,  to  teach 
immigrants  settling  on  the  land  how  to  work  the  soil  and 
produce  crops  best  calculated  to  supply  the  markets,  and 
show  them  how  to  sliip  their  produce  —  such  a  plan  would 
more  effectually  aid  the  distribution  of  immigrants  than  all 
the  state  bureaus  which  may  be  organized  in  every  state 
in  the  Union.  The  one  would  be  free  to  distribute  aliens, 
the  other  would  play  politics  and  be  ever  subject  to  political 
squalls. 

Personal  Contact.  —  Legislative  action  and  private  organiza- 
tions can  do  much  for  immigrants,  but  the  most  effective  of  all 
remedies  is  personal  contact.  We  can  legislate  as  we  have  a 
mind  to,  but  unless  the  native-born  is  ready  to  take  the  foreign- 
born  in  confidence  and  sympathy  into  the  family,  there  will  be 
no  assimilation.  Of  the  13,500,000  foreign-born  in  the  country 
at  present,  about  half  of  them  are  from  southeastern  Europe : 
in  other  words  in  a  population  of  90,000,000  whites,  just  one 
out  of  every  fifteen  is  a  child  of  the  backward  races  of  Europe, 
and  we  all  stand  in  awe  of  him  and  say  he  is  a  menace.  Would 
it  not  be  better  to  trust  the  brother,  believe  that  he  is  capable 
of  infinite  good,  give  him  a  fair  chance  in  the  race,  secure  to 
him  all  freedom  of  opportunity,  and  treat  him  at  all  times  as 
a  responsible  moral  being  with  rights  and  duties  as  other  men? 
If  this  personal  touch  is  secured,  righteous  treatment  given,  and 
broad  sympathetic  interest  shown,  the  immigration  problem 
will  be  solved  in  the  light  of  the  brotherhood  of  man  and  the 
spirit  of  our  democracy. 


ADDENDA 


The  annual  report  of  the  Commissioner  General  of  Immigra- 
tion for  the  years  1908,  1909,  and  1910  gives  details  as  to  the 
number  of  aliens  leaving  the  country. 

TABLE  I 


Returning  Immigrants 


Total 
Immigrant 
Departures 

Males 

-14 
Years 

14  TO  44 

Years 

In  Coun- 
try Less 

THAN 

S  Years 

Old  Immigration  . 
New  Immigration 

91,692 
644,896 

58,291  or  63.6 
550,505  or  85.4 

Per  Cent 
6.7 
3-9 

Per  Cent 
80.6 

87-S 

Per  Cent 
71-3 
83.0 

Total  .... 

736,588 

608,796  or  82.7 

4.2 

86.6 

81.6 

It  is  interesting  to  compare  the  percentages  in  the  above 
table  with  those  in  corresponding  groups  of  admitted  immi- 
grants, for  the  years  1909  and  1910  as  given  below:  — 


Males 

—  14  Years 

14  TO  44  Years 

1909  

lOIO  

Per  Cent 
69.1 
70.6 

Per  Cent 
II. 7 
"•S 

Per  Cent 
83.1 
83-3 

The  males  leaving  form  a  higher  percentage,  the  youths 
under  fourteen  years  also  are  fewer  in  number,  but  those  between 
the  ages  of  fourteen  and  forty-four  years  form  about  the  same 
percentage.  Thus  we  see  that  men  who  leave  are  in  the  years 
of  greatest  productivity  and  the  vast  majority  of  them  leave 
before  they  have  been  in  the  country  long  enough  to  make  their 
"  pUe." 

361 


362  TEE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 

The  following  figures  may  be  of  interest  to  the  general  student 
of  immigration : — 

TABLE  I A 

Total  Immigrants  by  Decades 

1821-1830                       143,439      1871-1880   2,812,191 

1831-1840                       599,125      1881-1890   5,246,613 

1841-1850  1,713,251      1891-1900   3,687,564 

1851-1860  2,598,214     1901-1910   8,795,386 

1861-1870  2,314,824 

The  following  table  shows  the  change  in  the  character  of 
immigration :  — 

TABLE  II 


Composition  or  Immigrants  by  Decades 


From 
Northwest  Europe 

From 
Southeast  Europe 

All  Others 

Per  Cent 

Per  Cent 

Per  Cent 

I82I-I830  .... 

76.5 

8.0 

15-5 

I83I-I840  .... 

84-3 

lO.O 

S-7 

I84I-I850  .... 

93-4 

5-1 

I-S 

I85I-I860  .... 

93-3 

4.3 

2-4 

I86I-I870  .... 

8S-S 

10.9 

3-6 

I87I-I880  .... 

72.0 

16.5 

"•5 

I88I-I890  .... 

68.0 

18.9 

12. 1 

I89I-I900  .... 

48.2 

51-0 

2.8 

I90I-I9IO  .... 

26.1 

65-9 

8.0 

TABLE  III 

Density  of  Population  in  Leading  Countries  of  Europe 


COCNIRY 

Population 
PER  Square  Mile 

Country 

Population 
PER  Square  Mtle 

Belgium  .... 

589 

Poland  .... 

232 

Netherlands     .  . 

460 

Austria  .... 

226 

Great  Britain  .  . 

350 

Switzerland    .  . 

208 

Italy  

310 

France  .... 

190 

Germany     .    .  . 

291 

Portugal    .    .  . 

153 

The  density  of  population  in  the  United  States  is  about  30  to  the  square 
mile. 


The  increase  of  immigration  at  each  decade  in  the  census  is 
given  in  the  following  table :  — 


ADDENDA 


363 


TABLE  IV 

Increase  of  Foreign-born  in  Population  by  Decades 


Census  Year 


1850 
i860 
1870 
1880 
1890 
1900 
1910 


Foreign-born 
Population 


2,244,602 
4,138,697 
5,567,229 

6,679,943 
9,249,560 
10,341,276 
13,343,583 


Increase 


1,894,09s 
1,428,532 
1,112,714 
2,569,617 
1,091,716 
3,129,766 


Percentage 
Increase 


84.4 
34-5 
20.0 

38.5 
11.8 
30.6 


It  is  estimated  that  about  30  per  cent  of  those  who  come  into 
the  country  return  to  Europe.  The  total  coming  in  the  decade 
1890-1900  was  3,687,564,  but  of  these  in  the  country  in  1900 
only  2,609,173  were  recorded,  which  was  71  per  cent  of  the 
number  that  came  in. 

The  distribution  of  the  immigrants  in  the  United  States  is 
shown  in  the  following  table :  — 

TABLE  V 
Distribution  of  Immigrants 


Geographical  Division 

1830-1860 

1860-1870 

1870-1880 

1880-1890 

1890-1900 

Per  Cent 

Per  Cent 

Per  Cent 

Per  Cent 

Per  Cent 

North  Atlantic    .  . 

36-9 

34-8 

26.4 

41.8 

80.  r 

North  Central     .  . 

47.1 

55-3 

52-4 

44-5 

9.0 

Western  .... 

8.0 

9-4 

16.8 

10.9 

6.9 

South  Atlantic    .  . 

30 

•3 

•7 

1-3 

•7 

South  Central     .  . 

4.9 

.2 

3-7 

1.9 

3-3 

In  the  census  of  1900,  66.3  per  cent  of  all  foreign-born  lived 
in  cities  of  2500  or  over  population.  But  of  the  Russians, 
Italians,  and  Poles,  members  of  the  new  immigration,  73.4, 
61.2,  and  60  per  cent,  respectively,  lived  in  cities  of  25,000  or  over 
population.  The  census  of  1910  will  doubtless  show  that  the 
new  immigration  is  largely  found  in  cities. 

The  total  number  deported  after  landing  and  debarred  from 
landing  may  be  judged  from  the  following  table.  During  the 
last  two  years  the  laws  regulating  the  admission  of  immigrants 
have  been  far  more  rigidly  enforced  than  ever  before. 


364  THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


TABLE  VI 
Immigrants  Debarred  and  Deported 


D£BASS£D 

Deported 

I892-I905   

59,647 

6,117 

12,432 

464 

13,064 

1,272 

10,902 

2,069 

10,411 

2,124 

24,270 

2,898 

22,349 

2,981 

153,07s 

17,925 

The  following  table  shows  how  the  men  of  the  new  immigra- 
tion come  largely  from  the  farms,  having  little  experience  in 
manufacturing  previous  to  their  coming.  On  the  other  hand 
the  men  of  the  old  immigration  had  manufacturing  experience 
before  they  came. 

TABLE  Vn 
Manufacturing  Experience  in  the  Homeland  ^ 


NEW  immigration 


Nationality 

MANUEACItTEING 

Farming 

Other 

Per  Cent 

Per  Cent 

Per  Cent 

3-9 

70.5 

25.6 

2.7 

80.S 

16.8 

4.8 

71.0 

24.2 

Greek  

S-I 

54-0 

40.9 

Herzegovinian  

I.I 

53-2 

45-7 

II.4 

48.6 

40.0 

s-s 

76.2 

18.3 

Macedonian  

3-8 

62.5 

33-7 

1-3 

81.9 

16.8 

2.8 

70.2 

27.0 

S-i 

74-3 

20.6 

Ruthenian  

4-7 

79.0 

16.3 

3-7 

75-7 

20.6 

4-4 

72.6 

23.0 

S-7 

65.2 

29.1 

Turk  

3-9 

645 

31.6 

58.5 

6.4 

4S-I 

68.7 

1  Abstract  of  Immigration  Commission's  Report  on  "Immigrants  in  Manu- 
facturing and  Mining,"  p.  85. 


ADDENDA 


OLD  IMMIGRATION 


Nationality 

Manufacturing 

Farming 

Other 

Per  Cent 

Per  Cent 

Per  Cent 

49.8 

3-0 

47.2 

71.0 

9-7 

19-3 

French  

49.4 

8.6 

42.0 

29.1 

28.8 

S2.I 

19-3 

18.4 

62.3 

36.4 

4.2 

59-4 

Welsh  

58.2 

2.6 

39-2 

14.2 

52.2 

33-6 

Average  

10.7 

The  following  figures  on  industrial  expansion  show  how  it 
has  been  possible  for  the  foreigners  to  get  standing  room :  — 


TABLE  VIII 
Industrial  Expansion 


Total  Capital 

Value  of  Products 

1880  

$  2,708,545,445 

$  5,212,505,186 

1890  

6,268,979,279 

9,011.543.324 

91384,263,009 

12,346,530,185 

1 90s  

12,031,388,950 

13,987.674.015 

Employees 

Increase 

Per  Cent 

1880  

3.743,374 

5,6x8,306 

84.3 

1900  

7.037.731 

47-4 

1  Abstract  of  Immigration  Commission's  Report  on  "  Immigrants  in  Manufac- 
turing and  Mining,"  pp.  217  and  218. 


366  THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 

TABLE  IX 


Annual  Earnings  of  Foreign-boen  Men^ 


Nationality 

Less  than 

Less  than 

Less  than 

$200  a  Year 

$400  a  Year 

$600  a  Year 

Per  Cent 

Per  Cent 

Per  Cent 

30-7 

90.4 

99.1 

14.1 

50.2 

839 

26.6 

80.6 

96.S 

41. 1 

95-6 

1 00.0 

20.0 

43-3 

86.0 

9-3 

S4-9 

86.4 

49-7 

92.S 

98.8 

14.9 

Si-7 

83.8 

36.8 

72.0 

98.6 

27.0 

70.1 

92-5 

10.4 

SS-4 

87.8 

Lithuanian  

5-4 

36.6 

85.1 

13.8 

Si-7 

87.3 

Polish  

8.9 

45 -9 

84.4 

3-0 

S4-6 

90.7 

Ruthenian  

7.2 

45-9 

88.7 

Slovak  

6.2 

43-7 

83.0 

6-3 

36.6 

68.3 

7-S 

46.3 

84.4 

Dutch  

■7 

20.7 

62.7 

i-S 

12.5 

41.4 

German  

4.6 

24.2 

57-6 

Irish  

2.7 

16.1 

SCO 

.0 

.0 

10.7 

1.2 

18.4 

46.0 

Swedish  

•4 

3-1 

26.9 

Welsh  

7.0 

27.0 

Si.o 

2.2 

15.2 

43-3 

Native-bom  of  Foreign  Parentage 

S-S 

29.7 

60.1 

Native-bom  of  Native  Parentage 

3-8 

iS-8 

43-S 

1  Abstract  of  Immigration  Commission's  Report  on  "  Immigrants  in  Manufac- 
turing and  Mining,"  pp.  131  f. 


ADDENDA 


367 


TABLE  X 

Percentage  of  Families  having  Lodgers  or  Boarders* 


THE  OLD  IMMIGRATION 

THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 

Nationality 

Percentage 
HAVING  Boarders 

Nationality 

Percentage 
HAVING  Boarders 

Dutch  

English  

German  .... 

Irish  

Norwegian.    .    .  . 

Scotch   

Swedish  .... 
Welsh  

6.3 

12.8 

16.2 

T  ^  ft 

14.0 

3-8 
8.9 
12.0 
14.9 

Brava  

Croatian  .... 

Italian  

Lithuanian   .    .  . 
Magyar  .... 

Polish  

Roumanian  .    .  . 
Russian  .... 
Ruthenian    .    .  . 
Servian  .... 

Slovak  

Slovenian.    .    .  . 
Syrian  

30.0 
59-5 
33-8 
S7-6 
53-6 
48.4 

77-9 
54.7 
56.9 
92.8 
36.0 
32.8 
30.9 

Average  \    .  . 

II. 2 

Average  .    .  . 

The  men  of  the  new  immigration  divide  themselves  into  two 
groups,  those  who  began  to  come  thirty  years  ago  and  the  more 
recent  ones  who  began  to  emigrate  fifteen  years  ago.  The  first 
two  tables  deal  with  these  two  groups.  The  third  table  deals 
with  the  old  immigration. 

The  Immigration  Commission  gives  the  following  figures  as 
to  the  comparative  fecundity  of  the  women  of  native  parentage, 
native-born  women  of  foreign  parentage,  and  foreign-born  women 
under  forty-five  years  of  age  married  ten  to  nineteen  years. 


TABLE  XI 

Percentage  of  Women  bearing  No  Children 


Rhode  Island 

Cleveland 

Minneapolis 

Per  Cent 

Per  Cent 

Per  Cent 

Women  of  Native  Parentage  .  . 

17-5 

15.2 

12.7 

Women  of  Foreign  Parentage  .  . 

10.5 

8.S 

7-9 

Foreign-born  Women  .... 

7.2 

S-S 

6.5 

'  Abstract  of  Immigration  Commission's  Report  on  "  Immigrants  in  Manufac- 
turing and  Mining,"  p.  148. 

^Abstract of  Immigration  Commission's  Report  on  "  Fecundity  of  Immigrant 
Women,"  pp.  46  f. 


368  THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


Average  Number  of  Children  Born 


Rhode  Island 

Cleveland 

Minneapolis 

Women  of  Native  Parentage  .  . 
Women  of  Foreign  Parentage  .  . 
Foreign-bom  Women  .... 

Children 

2-  5 

3-  9 

4-  7 

Children 

2-  4 

3-  3 

4-  7 

Chfldren 
2.4 

3-4 
4.0 

Average  Nttmber  of  Years  Married  per  Child  Born 

Rhode  Island 

Cleveland 

Minneapolis 

Women  of  Native  Parentage  .  . 
Women  of  Foreign  Parentage  .  . 
Foreign-bom  Women  .... 

Years 
S-9 
3-6 
3-1 

Years 
5-9 
4-1 
3-0 

Yeats 
5-7 
4.0 

3-4 

A  comparison  of  the  fecundity  of  the  vi'omen  of  the  new 
immigration  with  those  of  the  old  immigration  is  of  interest.^ 


TABLE  XII 

Old  Immigration 


Nahonality 


Peecentage 

beabing 
No  Childeen 


AVEIAGE  NnHBER 

OF  Children 

BORN  PEE 

Married  Woman 


Yeaes  Maeeled 
PEE  Chud  Boen 


Danish  . 
English  . 
French  . 
German 
Irish. 

Norwegian 
Scotch  . 
Swedish 
Swiss 
Welsh  . 


Average 


7-  7 

II.O 

23-5 
7.6 

8-  3 
7.6 

II.O 

5-7 
8.1 
8.6 


3-7 
3-2 
30 
3-7 
4.4 
3-8 
3-2 
3-9 
3-3 
2-9 


3-  8 
45 

4-  7 
3-8 
3-2 

3-  6 

4-  3 
35 
4.0 

4-7 


9-9 


35 


4.0 


'  Abstract  of  Immigration  Commission's  Report  on  "  Fecundity  of  Immigrant 
Women,"  pp.  46-52. 


ADDENDA 
New  Immigration 


369 


Nationality 

Percentage 

BEARING 

No  Children 

Average  Number 
OF  Children 

BORN  PER 

Married  Woman 

Years  Married 
per  Chlld  Born 

Austrian  

Finnish  

Hungarian  

Polish  

6.0 
2.4 
6.7 
8.0 
4.9 
5-4 
3-0 

4.4 

5-0 
4.8 
4.6 
4.8 
5-7 

3-1 
2.8 
2.8 

30 
2.8 

2.4 
2.7 

Average  .... 

5-2 

4-9 

2.8 

TABLE  XIII 


Population  of  Lawrence,  Mass.,  1848  and  1910I 


1848 

1910 

Nationality 

Number 

Nationality 

Number 

American  

3750 

21,000 

Irish  

2139 

English  

9,000 

English  

28 

2,300 

Scotch   

9 

French  (Can.)  .... 

12,000 

3 

6,500 

Welsh  

2 

Polish  

2,100 

Italian  

I 

700 

German  

I 

2,500 

16 

8,000 

2,700 

600 

Lithuanian  

3,000 

Franco-Belgian  .... 

1,200 

American  

12,000 

Others  

1,400 

Total  

5949 

Total  

85,000 

1  Abstract  of  Immigration  Commission's  Report  on  "Immigrants  in  Manufac- 
turing and  Mining,"  pp.  238-242. 
2  B 


370 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


TABLE  XIV 
Percentage  of  Immigr-^xts  Naturalized* 


OLD  IMMIGR.\TIOX 

NEW  IMjnGRATION 

NAnONALITY 

Pee  Cent 

Nationality 

Pee  CE>-r 

Dutch  

77-8 

Croatian  

19.4 

65.0 

3-7 

05.4 

24.1 

Irish  

79.1 

South  Italian  .... 

18.1 

68.5 

21.9 

84.9 

15.0 

Welsh  

84.0 

Polish  

21.6 

S-3 

8.3 

14.7 

17.1 

Slovenian  

30.0 

Syrian  

20.0 

The  illiteracy  of  the  men  of  the  new  and  old  immigration  may 
be  compared  in  the  following  table :  — 

TABLE  XV 
Illiteracy  of  IsonGRAvrs* 


OLD  IM^^GR.\TION  ;  NEW  IM>nGR-\TI0N 


Nationality 

Pee  Cent 

NAnOSALITY 

Pee  Cent 

Dutch  

2-4 

Bulgarian  

78.1 

English  

1.2 

Croatian  

.  70.9 

German  

2.0 

Greek  

80.5 

Irish  

4.2 

South  Italian     .    .  . 

675 

•5 

Lithuanian  .... 

77-3 

.2 

Magj'ar  

Welsh  

1.9 

PoUsh  

W9 

Portuguese  .... 

47-S 

Roumanian  .... 

82.6 

Russian  

74-S 

Ruthenian  .... 

65.8 

Ser\-ian  

713 

Slovak  

84.4 

Slovenian  

87-5 

SjTian  

63.6 

Average  .... 

1.8 

Average  .... 

74.8 

1  Abstract  of  Imniigration  Commission's  Report  on  "  Immigrants  in  Manufac- 
turing and  Mining,"  p.  211.  '  Ibid.,  p.  167. 


ADDENDA 


Ability  of  the  men  of  the  old  and  new  immigration  to  speak 
the  EngUsh  language  may  be  judged  from  the  following  table  :  — 


TABLE  XVI 
Ability  to  Speak  English* 


OLD  IMMIGRATION 

NEW  IMMIGRATION 

N^ATTOMAT  TTV 

96.5 

Bulgarian  

20.3 

Dutch  

86.1 

Croatian  

50.9 

Flemish  

Greek  

00' 0 

68.6 

South  Italian     .    .  . 

48.7 

87.5 

Lithuanian  .... 

Si-3 

96.9 

Macedonian  .... 

21. 1 

94-7 

Magyar  

46.4 

Montenegrin  .... 

38.0 

Polish  

43-5 

Roumanian  .... 

33-3 

Ruthenian  .... 

36.8 

Russian  

43-6 

Servian  

41.2 

Slovak  

55-6 

Slovenian  

Si-7 

Syrian  

54-6 

Turkish  

22.5 

Average  .... 

82.2 

Average  .    .    .  . 

40.8 

The  following  table  shows  comparison  between  the  classes 
mentioned  as  to  the  percentage  of  children  kept  home,  sent  to 
school,  or  sent  to  work,  of  children  six  to  sixteen  years  of  age  :  — 


TABLE  XVII 


Percentage  of  Children  at  Home 


HOUE 

School 

Work 

Per  Cent 

Per  Cent 

Per  Cent 

Native-bom  of  Native  Parentage    .    .  . 

6.2 

90.7 

3-1 

Native-born  of  Foreign  Parentage  .    .  . 

II.4 

83.7 

4-9 

16.2 

7S-2 

8.6 

1  Abstract  of  Immigration  Commission's  Report  on  "  Immigrants  in  Manufac- 
turing and  Mining,"  p.  201.  ^Ibid.,  p.  196. 


372 


THE  NEW  IMMIGRATION 


The  following  table  gives  the  percentage  of  native-born  chil- 
dren in  the  high  school,  together  with  a  comparison  of  the  per- 
centages of  children  of  the  old  and  new  immigrants  in  high 
school:—  TABLE  XVIII 

Percentage  or  Children  in  High  School' 


OLD  IMMIGRATION 

NEW  IMMIGRATION 

Nationality 

Pee  Cent 

Nationality 

Per  Cent 

S-i 

Hebrew  (Polish)    .    .  . 

3-3 

Dutch  

4.8 

Hebrew  (Roumanian)  . 

31 

7-7 

Hebrew  (Russian)     .  . 

3-3 

3-6 

Italian  (North)     .    .  . 

1.6 

5-4 

Italian  (South)     .    .  . 

.8 

4-7 

1-4 

Hebrew  (German)  .    .  . 

7.8 

3-4 

6.9 

Pohsh  

1.6 

S-2 

Portuguese  

•S 

9-7 

4-7 

S-2 

■7 

Welsh  

7.8 

6.0 

2.2 

Native-bom  white  9.1  per  cent. 


The  Immigration  Commission,  studying  the  annual  income 
of  wage  earners  who  are  heads  of  families,  gives  us  the  following 
figures:—  TABLE  XIX 


Annual  Income  of  Heads  of  F.amtlies 


Annual  Income 

Native-born  of 
Native  Parentage 

Native-born  or 
Foreign  Parentage 

Foreign-born 

$1000  + 

13.0 

13-7 

2.8 

1000  - 

87.0 

86.3 

97.2 

900  — 

78.8 

76.5 

94-3 

800  - 

72.3 

70.4 

9I-S 

700  - 

54- 7 

54-6 

81.8 

600  — 

40.7 

40.5 

70.0 

500  - 

25-1 

26.1 

53-8 

400  - 

12.2 

11.7 

34.0 

300  - 

3-7 

3-1 

iS-o 

200  - 

I.I 

0.6 

5-3 

100  - 

.2 

0.0 

I.O 

1  Abstract  of  Immigration  Commission's  Report  on  "The  Children  of  Immigrants 
in  Schools,"  p.  27. 

'  Abstract  of  Immigration  Commission's  Report  on  "  Immigrants  m  Manufac- 
turing and  Mining,"  pp.  129-130. 


ADDENDA  373 
TABLE  XX 


Vital  Statistics  of  European  Countries 


Birth 

Rate 

Death  Rate 

Infaut  Mortauty 

PER 

1000 

PER 

1000 

PER 

1000 

1881 

1908 

1881 

1908 

1881 

1908 

Great  Britain    .    .  . 

32 

26 

X  0 

IS 

124 

118 

Denmark  

32 

28 

18 

14 

121 

106 

Norway  

30 

26 

17 

14 

96 

76 

German  Empire     .  . 

37 

32 

25 

18 

? 

178 

Austria  

37 

33 

30 

22 

? 

204 

Hungary  

42 

36 

34 

24 

? 

199 

Netherlands  .... 

35 

29 

21 

15 

182 

125 

France  

24 

20 

22 

19 

i6s 

143 

Switzerland  .... 

29 

27 

22 

16 

187 

108 

Italy  

38 

33 

27 

22 

? 

153 

Bulgaria  

35 

40 

16 

24 

69 

170 

Russia  

47 

48 

33 

30 

252 

256 

New  York  Sun,  February  4,  1912. 


INDEX 


Abandoned  farms,  foreigners  on,  iS3. 
Accidents,   compensation  to  foreigners 
for,  87-88. 

criminal  negligence  for,  id. 

foreigners  need  protection  against,  91. 

hurry  up  cause  of,  82,  84. 

new  appliances  cause,  85. 

no  English  cause  of,  80. 

no  reliable  statistics  of,  78. 

number  of,  86. 

thoughtlessness  cause  of,  83. 
Addams,  Miss  Jane,  276. 
Ambulance  chasers,  foreigners  as,  176. 
America,  backward  Europe  in,  307. 

for  Americans,  249,  252. 

foreigners  should  know,  185. 

heritage  of,  303. 

immigrants  appreciate,  8. 

immigrants  influenced  by,  10. 

influences  of,  on  immigrants,  342. 

spirit  of  lawlessness  in,  350. 

the  spirit  of,  306. 
American   banks,   foreigners  employed 
in,  225. 

suspicious  of,  225. 
American  Car  and  Foundry  Company,  56. 
American  flag,  presentation  of,  264. 
American  ideals,  retention  of,  260. 
American  law,  foreign  parents  fear,  326. 
American  leadership,  influence  of,  311. 

in  foreign  colonies,  186. 
American  town,  character  of,  306. 
American  workers,  foreigners  copy,  296. 

qualities  of,  94. 
Amusement,  influence  of,  277. 

Jews  in,  267. 

popularity  of,  276. 
Annual  income,  amount  of,  166. 
Annual  wage.  Immigration  Commission 
on,  70. 


Anthracite  coal  fields,  foreigners  in,  55. 
Antipathy,  result  of,  299. 
Armourdale,  Kan.,  152. 
Ashokan  Dam,  N.Y.,  SQ- 

foreigners  treated  in,  135. 
Assimilation,  patriotism  and,  356. 

personal  effort  in,  355. 
Association  of  Practical  Housekeeping, 
302- 

Athletics,  Greeks  fond  of,  192. 
Aurora,    111.,  bathing  ordinance,  136. 
dinner  of  all  nations  in,  316. 


B 


Balkans,  customs  in,  96. 

States  in,  5,  26. 
Baltic  nations,  9. 

Baltimore,  bathing  provisions  in,  136. 
Bankers,  foreigners  trust,  181. 
Banking  laws,  effect  of,  231. 

inefficiency  of,  231. 
Bank  paper,  value  of,  226. 
Barbers,  Italians  as,  60. 
Barberton,  O.,  58,  too. 
Barge  Canal,  conditions  in  camps  on, 
112. 

Bar-tenders,  foreigners  as,  178. 
Bathing,  foreigners  afraid  of,  136. 

foreigners  patronize,  171. 

needed  conveniences  for,  135. 
Beadenkoff,  Thomas  M.,  136. 
Beneficiary  societies.  Church  control  of, 
188. 

Benevolent  societies,  183. 
Berwick,  Pa.,  steel  plant  in,  56. 

steel  plant,  employment  in,  97. 
Bigotry,  spirit  of,  210. 
Billikopf,  Jacob,  services  of,  329. 
Birds  of  passage,  13. 


375 


376 


INDEX 


Bituminous  coal  fields,  foreigners  in, 
55- 

Blaustein,  Dr.  David,  on  Jewish  Boy, 
288. 

Blind  tigers,  267. 

Boarders,  and  lodgers,  percentage  of,  130. 

Immigration  Commission  on,  166. 
Boarding  boss,  unreliability  of,  131. 
Boarding  houses,  crowding  in,  i6g. 

disgraceful  condition  of,  170. 

laws  relating  to,  132. 

regulations  of,  170. 
Boards  of  special  inquiry,  character  of 
men  on,  28. 

reversal  of  decisions  of,  29. 

un-American  procedure  before,  29. 
Bosnia,  5. 

Boston  Common,  a  foreigner  on,  163. 
Boys  in  crime,  240,  328. 
Brewer,  D.  Chauncey,  316. 
Brick  plants,  foreigners  in,  58. 
Bride,  dance  with  the,  149. 
Brinton,  Professor  Daniel  G.,  308. 
Brockton,  Mass.,  Lithuanians  in,  186. 
Building  and  Loan  Societies,  183. 
Bulgaria,  10. 

Burritt,  Elihu,  anniversary  of,  301. 
C 

Calumet,  Mich.,  foreigners  in,  54. 
Cambridge,  Mass.,   mock  election  in, 
316. 

Camp   Commissaries,   jealous  of  out- 
siders, 114. 

usefulness  of,  id. 
Camp,  housekeeping  in,  124. 
Camp  officials,  importance  of,  115. 
Camps,  effective  work  in,  312. 

expert  leaders  wanted  in,  127. 

life  in,  123. 

number  of  employees  in,  115. 

privations  in,  112,  137. 

welfare  work  in,  115. 
Capital  cities,  foreigners  in,  159. 
Captains  of  industry,  foreign  labor  and, 
350. 

Carr,  John  Foster,  263. 
Catholic  Church,  power  of,  284. 
Chemical  works,  foreigners  in,  68. 


Chicago,  accident  in,  89. 

League  for  immigrants  in,  317. 

League  for  Protection  of  Immigrants 
in,  40,  43. 
Chicago  Tribune,  sermon  in,  44. 
Chicago  University,  a  foreigner  in,  279. 
Children,  at  work  or  home,  121. 

feeding  of,  151. 

neglect  of,  147. 
Children  of  foreigners,  advancement  of, 
336. 

ancestral  heritage  of,  337. 

efficiency  of,  330. 

study  of,  329. 
Chinese,  exclusion  of,  164. 

immigration  of,  26. 
Christianity,  the  foreigners  and,  300. 
Church  and  State,  separation  of,  207. 
Church  calendars,  variation  in,  151. 
Church  societies,  policy  of,  189. 
Churches,  abandoning  foreign  colonies, 
202. 

foreigners  build,  265. 

foreigners  buy,  202. 

Italians  and  Slavs  in,  208. 

money  spent  on,  200. 

pooling  interest,  322. 

serving  foreigners,  318. 

settlement  work  by,  318. 

varying  nationalities  in,  202. 
Cities,  anti-social  tendencies  in,  350. 

conditions  in,  310. 

congestion  in,  349. 

foreigners  in  old  sections  of,  127. 

foreigners  want  low  rents  in,  128. 

ignorance  of  conditions  in,  310. 

redemptive  forces  of,  172. 
Cities  of  100,000+  population,  158. 
Citizenship,  failures  to  acquire,  234. 

qualities  for,  233. 

religious  basis  of,  322. 
City  property,  appreciation  of,  161. 
Civilization,  conflict  of,  326. 

meaning  of,  280. 

preserve  American,  307. 

the  veneer  of,  320. 
Class  legislation,  guard  against,  233. 
Cleanliness,  Finns  and  Bosnians,  134. 
Cleveland,  President,  on  Immigration, 
251- 


INDEX 


377 


Clothing  trade,  foreigners  in  control  of, 
52- 

Lithuanians  in,  id. 
Clubs,  anti-social,  184. 
Coal  mining,  efEciency  of  foreigners  in, 
100. 

foreigners  in,  55-56. 
Coal  pit  in  Great  Britain,  78. 
Coast  States,  men  needed  in,  14. 
Commissioner,  outwitting  the,  31. 
Commons,  Professor  John  R.,  279,  295. 
Communal  habit,  effect  of  in  wage  dis- 
pute, 106. 

Community  life,  change  wrought  in,  154. 
Community  meetings,  kind  of,  263. 
Congestion,  peoples  having  worst,  168. 
Conjugal  conditions.  Immigration  Com- 
mission on,  148. 
Construction  camps,  foreigners  in,  53. 
Contract  Labor  Law,  beginning  of,  250. 
hardships  of,  26. 

Immigration  Commission  and  viola- 
tion of,  26. 

wide  swath  of,  29,  63. 
Conversion,  nationality  and,  210. 
Convert,  an  Italian,  209. 
Cooperation,  among  workingmen,  296. 
Corporations,  all  property  held  by,  105. 
Cosmopolitan  cities,  159. 
Cosmopolitan    meeting,    character  of, 
301. 

Country  life,  foreigners  long  for,  163. 
County  of  New  York,  crimes  in,  234. 
Courts,  foreigners  in,  243. 
Crimes,  detectives  and,  240,  242. 

drink  cause  of,  238,  244. 

education  and,  284. 

foreigners  in,  233. 

native-born  in,  234. 

nature  of,  235. 

peculiar  to  new  immigrants,  238. 

savagery  of,  236. 

tendencies  to,  245. 
Criminality,  sons  of  foreigners  and,  324. 
Criminals,  district  attorneys  and,  243. 

entrance  of,  34. 

escape  of,  240. 

failure  to  prosecute,  243. 

foreigners  as,  239. 

foreigners  hiding,  241. 


Croats,  old  Catholicism  among,  203. 
Crowding,  beds  work  double  shift,  130. 
Culture,  among  foreigners,  290. 
Customs,  backward,  297. 

D 

Dance,  a  Grecian,  271. 
Dancing,  a  professor  of,  266. 

Syrians,  265. 
Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution 
263. 

Davis,  Rev.  Ozora,  farewell  dinner  to, 
301- 

Dayton,  Italians  in,  309. 
Declaration  of  Independence,  spirit  of, 
297. 

Degeneracy,  causes  of,  in  sons  of  for- 
eigners, 338. 
Delray,  its  housing  problem,  132. 
Democracy,  duty  of  patriots  to,  305. 

spirit  of,  250. 

the  leaven  of,  291. 

true  light  of,  303. 
Dependents,  causes  of  foreigners  as,  167. 

percentage  of,  id. 
Deportation,  number  in,  28. 

poverty  and,  27. 

trivial  cause  for,  21. 
Destination,  deciphering  addresses  to, 
43- 

girls  and  their,  41. 

incorrect  address  to,  43. 

must  have  address  to,  23  (n). 

percentage  with  address  to,  42. 
Detention,  causes  of,  22. 

unpleasantness  of,  35. 
Diet,  articles  in  foreigners',  218. 
Dillingham,  Senator,  51. 
Discipline,  breaking  down  of,  326. 
Discrimination,  foreigners  suspicious  of, 
71- 

Disease,  communication  of,  137. 
Displacement  in  cities,  161. 
Distributing  centers,  need  of,  354. 
Distributing  points,  exploitation  at,  36. 

need  of  headquarters  at,  44. 
Distribution,  foreign  societies  and,  358. 

literature  and,  354. 

the  land  and,  id. 


378 


INDEX 


Division  of  Information,  63. 
Domestic  animals,  variety  of,  140. 
Drama,  foreigner  and,  275. 

Italians  and,  id. 
Dramatic  clubs,  organization  of,  276. 
Drink,  foreigners  and,  76. 
Drink  habit,  regulation  of,  269. 
Dukhobors,  a  family  of,  321. 
Durham,  M.  E.,  s- 

E 

East  St.  Louis,  Aluminium  Works  in,  81. 
Economic  Law,  Immigration  Commis- 
sion on,  63. 
Education,  difficulty  of,  281. 

employers  can  help  in,  108. 

employers  unfavorable  to,  107. 

immigrants  want,  6. 
Efficiency,  drink  interferes  with,  96. 

elements  in,  94. 

foreigners  increase  in,  100. 

wages  a  measure  of,  93. 
Electricity,  dangers  of,  85. 
Eliot,  Dr.  Charles  W.,  304. 
Ellis  Island,  a  foreigner  in,  31. 

a  Scott  in,  31. 

attempted  escape  from,  24. 

bathing  facilities  in,  20. 

commissariat  at,  37. 

crowding  in,  18. 

examination  dreaded,  33. 

families  divided,  23. 

first  impressions  in,  33. 

five  months  in,  24. 

hardships  in,  18. 

hospital  in,  31. 

machinery  of,  31. 

missionary  service  in,  22. 

physicians  in,  15. 
Employer,  beneficence  of,  107. 
Employers,  foreigners  and,  74. 

mix  foreigners  in  plants,  75. 
Employment,  discipline  of,  334. 
Employment  offices,  foreigners  at,  293. 
English,  need  of,  70. 

possibility  of  teaching,  81. 

suffering  for  want  of,  165. 
English  classes,  nationalities  in,  282. 

number  in,  id.  \ 


Englishmen,  complaints  of,  20. 
English-speaking,  industries  forsaken  by, 
S3.  67. 

workers,  displacement  of,  72. 
Enlightenment,  foreigners  need,  357. 
Environment,  cause  of  crime,  325. 
Equality,  meaning  of,  298. 

repudiation  of,  89. 
Europe,  economic  condition  of,  $. 

homogeneous  working  force  in,  78. 

influence  of  immigrants  on,  10. 
European  countries,  deference  to  author- 
ity, 349- 

European  governments,  attitude  of,  260. 

loss  by  emigration  to,  342. 

weeding  process  of,  16  (n). 
European  homes,  pictures  in,  304. 
Example,  power  of,  155. 
Exclusion,  ground  for,  333. 

laws  for,  334- 
Exploitation  of  foreigners,  164. 

F 

Faith,  essentials  of,  321. 

foreigners  leave  fathers',  208. 
Faith  in  foreigners,  need  of,  279. 
Fall  River,  Chinese  of,  164. 
Families,  percentage  keeping  boarders, 
168. 

Fanaticism,  out  of  place,  212. 
Fastidious,  foreigners  not,  140. 
Fatherland,  gold  sent  to,  12,  343. 
Fertilizers,  foreigners  in,  33. 
Festas,  Italians  and,  208. 
Filth,  danger  of,  137. 
Firewood,  getting,  239. 
Food,  European  custom  in,  131. 

foreigners  eat  too  b'ttle,  98. 
Foreign-bom  children  in  school,  333. 
Foreign  business,  fraud  in,  180  f. 
Foreign  Catholics,   church  attendance 
among,  206. 

devotion  of,  207. 

servility  of,  206. 
Foreign  churches,  American  leadership 
in,  183. 

Foreign  colonies,  causes  of  dilapidation, 
162. 
saloons  in,  348. 


INDEX 


379 


Foreign  colony,  ignorance  of,  309. 
Foreign  customs,  sway  of,  145. 
Foreign  editors,  attitude  of,  262. 
Foreigners,  ambition  of,  325. 

appreciated  as  workers,  102. 

business  ability  of,  103. 

childlike  character  of,  313. 

clannishness  of,  75. 

contempt  for,  327. 

courts  prejudiced  against,  88. 

cultured  men  among,  278. 

degeneracy  of,  303. 

drink  habit  of,  270. 

example  given,  94,  117. 

folly  of,  302. 

good  men  among,  119. 

holidays  of,  93. 

honorable  men  among,  loi. 

houses  rented  to,  133,  348. 

housing  laws  and,  460. 

ignorance  of  city  life,  162. 

immoralities  among,  142. 

irreligion  of,  319. 

mental  endowment  of,  279. 

mother  wit  in,  102. 

needs  of,  280. 

one  faith  of,  319. 

parental  ideas  of,  329. 

pay  for  jobs,  164. 

penury  of,  167. 

prejudice  against,  246. 

privileges  granted,  230. 

purity  of  life  among,  141. 

religious  nature  of,  215. 

religious  usages  of,  20s. 

rickety  houses  of,  129. 

sanitary  instructor  for,  134. 

service  to,  312. 

should  know  America,  338. 

Societies  helping,  317. 

suffering  of,  163. 

ubiquity  of,  298. 

under  good  examples,  120. 

undesirable  qualities  in,  95. 
Foreign  labor,  despised,  292,  350. 
Foreign  laborers,  percentage  of,  336. 
Foreign  parents,  ambition  of,  335. 
Foreign  press,  reliability  of,  261. 
Foreign  societies,  helpfulness  of,  358. 
Foreign  standards,  advancement  on,  296. 


Foreign  tongues,  industrial  regulations 
in,  81. 

Foreign  town,  character  of,  306. 
Foreign  vote,  power  of,  255. 
Foreign  women,  drudgery  of,  142. 

fecundity  of,  143. 

old  country  ways  and,  144. 

scarcity  of,  142. 
Foreign  workers,  amenability  of,  293. 

injustice  to,  283. 

isolation  of,  293. 

qualities  of,  293,  350. 
Foreman,  a  kind,  286. 
Foremen,  foreigners  bribe,  76. 
Foundries,  foreigners  in,  56. 
Fraser,  J.  F.,  46. 
Frauds  in  banks,  amount  of,  229. 
Free  library,  interpretation  of,  290. 
Frugone,  F.  L.,  loi. 
Furniture  plants,  foreigners  in,  68. 

G 

Gambling,  foreigners  given  to,  238. 

foreigners  in,  194. 
Gehenna  versus  flowers,  322. 
Germans,  complaints  of,  21. 
Government  Employment  Bureau,  22. 

foreigner's  relation  to,  287. 
Granite  City,  Bulgarians  of,  10. 
Grecian  caf&,  character  of,  271. 
Greek  boys,  information  needed  about, 
328. 

traffic  in,  30. 
Greek  Orthodox  Church,  204. 
Greeks,  business  ability  of,  60. 

division  among,  181. 

drama  of,  276. 

enterprise  of,  104. 

exploitation  of,  181. 
Grinding,  foreigners  in,  '7. 
Gumption,  a  Yankee's,  287, 

H 

Habits  of  foreigners,  disagreeable,  76. 
Halls,  bars  in,  193. 

dancing  in,  268. 

social  life  in,  193. 
Hammerling,  Louis  N.,  51. 


38o 


INDEX 


Head  tax,  251. 

Health,  education  and,  357. 

lectures  on,  286. 
Heredity  and  crime,  325. 
Heroes,  each  nation  has  its,  275. 
Herzegovina,  5. 

Higher  education,  foreigner  in,  334. 
Holocaust,  native-born  in  a,  246. 
Home,  the  foreigner's  idea  of,  139. 
Home-building,  influence  of,  152. 
Homes,  Americanization  of,  146. 

cleanliness  of,  id. 

foreigners  build,  154. 

housewives  in,  146. 

Immigration  Commission  on,  id. 
Homicides,  number  of,  235. 
Hospitals,  foreigners  in,  167. 
Houghton,  Mich.,  native-born  in,  54. 
Households,  persons  to  the,  128. 
Houses,  foreigners  tear,  134. 

unsanitary,  132. 
Housing  conditions  among  foreigners, 
348. 

Hunkeytown,  a  fenced  village,  177. 
Hurley,  Deputy  Commissioner,  31. 
Hurry-up  habit,  83. 

I 

Ideals,  American,  305. 
Immigrant,  an  oppressed,  288. 

a  Persian,  9. 
Immigrant  bank,  amount  in,  226. 

no  interest  paid  by,  223. 
Immigrant  banker,  a  prosperous,  223. 

popularity  of,  224. 

services  rendered  by,  id. 
Immigrant  bankers,  character  of,  221  f. 

foreigners  shield,  231. 

fraud  of,  227. 

Jews  as,  222. 

methods  of  business,  222. 

rise  of,  22r. 

trustworthiness  of,  228. 
Immigrant  banks,  a  development,  220. 
a  side  issue,  226. 
description  of,  217,  225. 
location  of,  216. 
nature  of,  216. 
not  in  company  stores,  217. 


Immigrant  families,  stability  of,  66  (n). 
Immigrant  homes,  cleanhness  of,  170. 

percentage  of  dirty,  170. 
Immigrant  laborers,  instability  of,  65. 

scarcity  of,  65. 
Immigrant  names,  change  of,  43. 
Immigrant  oflicials,  courtesy  of,  34. 
Immigrant  train,  character  of,  41. 

conductors  on,  42. 
Immigrant  trains,  regulation  of,  39. 

unseasonable  hours  of,  40. 
Immigrant  workers,  qualities  of,  61. 
Immigrants,   birth    rate    among,  143, 
346. 

carelessness  of,  68. 

change  in,  4. 

character  of,  341. 

distribution  of,  156. 

enjoyments  of,  11. 

farm  hands  as,  342. 

fraudulent  entrance  of,  25. 

illiteracy  of,  5. 

industrial  efficiency  of,  76. 

inhuman  treatment  of,  66. 

letters  of,  11,  63. 

per  capita  tax  of,  41. 

percentage  of  change,  4  (n). 

percentage  of  farmers  among,  49  (n). 

physical  power  of,  113. 

prosperity  of,  11  f. 

protection  of,  41. 

quality  of,  15,  17,  92,  304. 

skilled  workers  among,  59. 

skill  of,  s. 

states  to  which  they  go,  156. 

unskilled  workers  among,  49. 
Immigration,  an  international  question, 
ass- 
causes  of,  s  f. 

centers  of,  4. 

economic  law  and,  457. 

Federal  control  of,  33,  250. 

old  and  new,  5. 

State  control  of,  33. 

volume  of,  4. 
Immigration  Commission,  conclusions  of, 
SI.  3SI  f- 

New  York  State,  58,  234. 

on  banks,  226. 

on  crimes,  254. 


INDEX 


381 


Immigration  Laws,  15. 

lax  administration  of,  36. 
Immigration  policy,  248. 
Immigration  problem,  341. 
Immigration  zone,  156. 

school  buildings  in,  355. 
Individuals,  plan  of  work  of,  312. 
Industrial  calamities,  foreigners  in,  89. 
Industrial  plant,  discipline  in,  92. 
Industrial  prosperity,  meaning  of,  351. 
Industrial  zone,  158. 

Industries,  American  character  of,  49  f. 
American  development  of,  50. 
best  paying,  69. 
change  in,  73  f. 

common  medium  of  communication 
needed,  81. 

foreigners  in  special,  $2. 

foreigners  needed  in,  51. 

immigrants  in,  49. 

immigrants  weeded  out  by,  17. 

injurious  to  health,  67. 

multipHcity  of  tongues  in,  79. 

power  increase  in,  86. 

religious  usage  and,  96. 

risky  character  of,  82. 

speeding  up  in,  86. 
Infant  mortality,  144. 
Institutions,  American,  305. 
Intermittent  Labor,  effect  of,  334. 
International  Banks,  226. 
Inventions,  effect  of,  73. 
Investigations,  attempts  at,  310. 

individuals  in,  id. 

scientific  use  of,  311. 

Young  peoples'  societies  and,  id. 
Iron  and  steel  industries,  foreigners  in, 
S6. 

Iron  ore  mines,  foreigners  in,  56. 
Irreligion,  cause  of,  319. 
Irwin,  immigrants  at,  41. 
Ishpeming,  Mich.,  iron  ore  mines,  54. 
Italian  saloons,  character  of,  270. 
Italians,  as  politicians,  256. 

break  from  church,  207. 

difference  in  wages  of,  69. 

divisions  among,  182. 

gambling  among,  270. 

loss  of  life  among,  86. 

not  Socialists,  105. 


Italians,  sentiments  of,  8. 
walled  towns  of,  188. 

J 

Japanese,  housekeeping  among,  124. 
Jews,  in  industries,  60. 

linguistic  power  of,  176. 

rehgion  and  industry  among,  151. 
Justice,  defeating,  245. 
Justices  of  the  Peace,  inefficiency  of,  246. 
Juvenile  courts,  sons  of  foreigners  in,  327. 

K 

Kansas  City,  Greeks  in,  128. 
Kaupus,  Rev.  A.,  on  festivities,  269. 
Kellor,  F.  A.,  135. 
Know  Nothing  Party,  324  f. 

L 

Labor  agencies,  foreigners  use,  64. 
Labor  camps,  bathing  facilities  in,  iii. 

bunkhouses  in,  no. 

commissary  in,  109. 

cleanliness  In,  no. 

life  in,  109. 
Labor  organizations,  effect  of,  195. 

foreigners  in,  194. 

leaders  of,  196. 

percentage  in,  19s. 
Lake  traffic,  foreigners  in,  58. 
Land-holding  companies,  153. 
Landlords,  greed  of,  128. 
Lawlessness,  foreigners  in,  iig. 
Lawrence,  Mass.,  159. 
Leader,  an  Italian,  322. 

immigrants  have  a,  173. 

the  ways  of  a,  176  f. 
Leaders,  foreign  politicians  as,  179. 

genial  and  capable,  174. 

jealousy  of,  181. 

Jews  as,  176. 

loyal  to  homeland,  184. 

politicians  use,  184. 

power  of,  173  f. 

priests  as,  183. 

religious  agreement  of,  321. 

religious  divisions  among,  182. 


382 


INDEX 


Leaders,  Slavs  follow,  173. 

unscrupulous  men  as,  176. 

used  by  employers,  176. 
Leadership,  American,  302. 

foreigners  must  help  in,  322. 

need  of,  184. 
Lead  works,  foreigners  in,  68. 
Lectures,  foreigners  in,  315. 

possibility  of,  287. 
Legislation,  immigrant,  251. 

too  much,  456. 
Librarians,  anxious  to  help,  289. 
Libraries,  aid  to  assimilation,  289. 

children's  hour  in,  330. 

foreign  books  in,  289,  376. 
Library,  use  made  of,  277. 
Licenses,  native-born  grant,  347. 
Liquor  laws,  violation  of,  118. 
Lithuanians,  radicals  among,  183. 
Literature,  foreigners  to  choose,  290. 

foreigners'  taste  in,  id. 
Lumber  camp,  a  meal  in,  in. 

French  Canadians  in,  111. 
Lumber  camps,  foreigners  in,  54. 

M 

McGee,  Professor  W  J,  14. 
Mack,  Judge,  43. 
Magyar  family,  suffering  of,  166. 
Magyars,  difference  in  wages  of,  69. 

division  among,  197. 

industrial  efficiency  of,  100. 

music  among,  273. 
Male,  preponderance  of,  150. 
Map  of  immigration  zone,  157. 
Marionettes,  Italians  and,  272. 
Marriage,  fraud  practiced  in,  150. 
Married,  wives  in  homeland,  148. 
Maryland  Steel  Company,  drink  con- 
trolled by,  97. 
Matrimony  and  income,  346. 
Meat  packing,  foreigners  in,  53. 
Medical  card,  necessity  of,  23. 
Memorial  Day,  a  foreigner  on,  264. 
Military  service,  fleeing  from,  260. 
Military  societies,  Greeks  in,  192. 

Lithuanians  in,  191. 

Poles  in,  id. 
Mine  disaster,  effect  of,  90. 


Mine  inspectors,  statistics  of,  82. 

warnings  given  by,  85. 
Mining  camps,  foreigners  in,  54. 
Mining  town,  demoralization  in,  117. 
Mining  villages,  schools  in,  120  f. 
Minor  ports,  conditions  in,  35. 
Missionaries,  duplicating  work,  318. 

privations  of,  213. 

unworthy,  211. 
Mixed  marriages,  214. 
Money  sent  to  Europe,  amount  of,  343. 

importance  of,  id. 
Most,  John,  arrest  of,  302. 
Mothers,  dreary  life  of,  121. 

leaders  needed  by,  122. 
Moving  pictures,  Grecian,  271. 
Municipalities,  graft  in  officers  of,  132. 
Murder,  a  joke  causes,  77. 
Murders,  unavenged,  243. 
Music,  charm  of,  274. 

foreigners  and,  273. 

foreigners  appreciate,  274. 
Musical  contests,  the  foreigner  and,  273. 
Musicians,  foreigners  and,  id. 

N 

Naming,  custom  of,  297. 
National  .Alliances,  aims  of,  196. 

foreigners  in,  id. 
Nations,  background  of,  275. 

commingling  of,  304. 
Native-born,  prejudice  of,  352. 
Naturalization,  Courts,  clerks  of,  254. 

desire  of,  259. 

irregularity  in,  256. 

law  of  1906,  253. 

requirements  of,  254. 
Naturalized,  number  of,  259. 
Nazarites,  faith  of,  205. 
Negroes,  housekeeping  among,  125. 
Neighborhood,  know  your,  309. 
New  Brunswick,  N.J.,  6. 
New  England,  change  in  population,  159. 
New  Haven,  Italians  in,  60. 

remodeling  house  in,  161. 
New  Immigration,  the  spirit  of,  277. 
New  immigrants,  confidence  in,  359. 

number  of,  359. 

qualities  of,  17. 


INDEX 


383 


New  Jersey,  Iron  Ore  Mines  in,  56,  80. 
New  life,  America  awakes  to,  288. 
New  York  law,  midwives  and,  144. 
New  York  Observer,  51. 
Night  schools,  effect  of,  278. 
North  America,  area  of,  14. 
North  American  Civic  League  for  Im- 
migrants, 316. 
Northwestern  Railroad  waiting  room,  44. 
Norwegians,  service  to,  314. 
Nurserj',  English  classes  in,  315. 

O 

Oakland,  Cal.,  a  Greek  in,  314. 
One  room,  families  in,  140. 

family  and  boarders  in,  141. 
Operatives,  prejudice  of,  72. 
Operators,  anxious  for  production,  351. 

help  from,  285. 

prejudice  of,  71. 
Opportunity  versus  Socialism,  105  f. 
Order  of  United  Americans,  249. 
Ore  docks,  Finns  in,  58. 
Oriental  blood,  character  of,  266. 

P 

Pace,  the  American,  45. 
Padrone  system,  64. 
Padroni,  diplomacy  of,  114. 
Palmer,  Francis  H.  E.,  on  Russian  Life, 
240. 

Pan-Ethnic  Movements,  197. 

divisions  in,  id. 
Parents,  and  children,  sympathy  wanted 
in,  337- 

encourage  crime,  327. 

immigrants  loyal  to,  12. 
Parochial  Schools,  children  in,  331. 

efficiency  of,  331. 

English  in,  id. 

expense  of,  333. 

Immigration  Commission  on,  331. 

standards  of,  333. 
Paryski,  A.  A.,  100,  175,  263. 
Patriotism,  instruction  in,  258. 
Penitentiaries,  educational  possibilities 
in,  283. 

foreigners  in,  284. 


Pennsylvania  mim'ng  laws,  effect  of,  72. 
Pennsylvania  mining  towns,  drink  in,  g7. 
Perjury,  prevalence  of,  245. 
Personal  cleanhness,  variation  in,  170  f. 
Personal  touch,  efficiency  of,  323. 

need  of,  281. 
Philadelphia,  immigrant  station  at,  39. 
PhiUips,  Col.  R.  A.,  315. 
Pictures,  influence  of,  327. 

of  patriots,  use  of,  258. 
Pink,  Louis  H.,  on  Mag>-ars,  267. 
Pittsburgh  Survey,  309. 
Play,  Americans  at,  265. 

foreigners  at,  id. 
Plow  plants,  foreigners  in,  57. 
Pocket  wards,  cause  of,  255. 
Poles,  loss  of  life  among,  87. 
PoHce  going  in  pairs,  238. 
Polish  Home  for  Immigrants,  196. 
Polish  National  Alliance,  10,  188. 
Political  Clubs,  leaders  of,  179. 

independent,  id. 
Politicians,  kindness  of,  257. 

magnifying  foreigners,  262. 
Politics,  foreigners  in,  260  f. 

foreigners  independent  in,  263. 
Population,  increase  of,  346. 
Port  Commissioner,  illegal  act  of,  36. 
Ports  of  landing,  differences  in,  25. 
Postal  Savings  Banks,  need  of,  230. 
Post  Office,  foreigners  trust  in,  id. 

orders  of,  id. 
Press,  the  criminal  records  in,  327. 
Priest,  laymen  oppose,  182. 
Priests,  abused,  211. 

converted,  212. 

devout  men  among,  183. 

great  power  of,  184. 

unworthy,  211. 
Probation,  length  of,  256. 
Professions,  foreigners  not  in,  54. 
Proselytism,  effects  of,  320. 
Protestants,  foreigners  as,  205. 
missionaries  among  foreigners,  id. 
Pubhc   buildings,    the   foreigner  and, 

355  f;  277- 
Public  schools,  adaptation  needed,  282, 
367.' 

children  in,  330. 

foreigners  and,  333. 


384 


INDEX 


Public  schools,  matron  in,  333. 

socializing  the,  283. 

use  made  of,  282. 
Push-cart  business,  Greeks  in,  60. 

R 

Race  suicide,  immigration  and,  346  f. 
Racial  hatred,  Armenians  and  Turks,  9. 
Racial  prejudice,  75. 
Racial  qualities,  variation  in,  92. 
Railroad  agents,  mistakes  of,  39. 
Railroad  car  shops,  foreigners  employed 
in,  57  f. 

Railroad  employees,  a  Samaritan  among, 
42. 

courtesy  of,  41. 
Railroad  stations,  exploitation  in,  39. 

immigrant  rooms  in,  38. 
Recent   immigrants,   crowding  among, 
130. 

Redlight  districts,  foreigners  in,  128. 

Relaxation,  need  of,  266. 

Religion,  aim  of,  320. 

Religious  conflicts,  leaders  in,  191. 

Religious,  harmony,  need  of,  214. 

festivals,  use  of,  267. 

prejudice,  214. 
Residuum,  in  cities,  161. 
Returning  immigrants,  character  of,  16. 

number  of,  342. 
Riis,  Jacob,  optimism  of,  242. 
Riot,  ignorance  leads  to,  287. 
Riots,  cause  of,  298. 
Rock  Island  City,  111.,  83. 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  criticism  of, 
201. 

diflBculties  of,  id. 

influence  of,  202. 

the  problem  of,  201. 
Rooms,  crowding  into  few,  131. 
Rovnianek,  P.  V.,  on  festivities,  269. 
Russia,  persecution  in,  7. 
Ruthenians,  division  among,  204  (n). 

s 

St.  Joseph,  Mo.,  152. 
Saloon,  a  Greek,  271. 
Saloons,  as  labor  agencies,  64. 


Saloons,  drinking  dens,  270. 

election  day  and,  262. 

foreigners  meet  in,  179, 

Lithuanians  in,  id. 

political  power  of,  179,  262. 

poor  man's  club,  269. 

South  Omaha  and,  268. 
Sanitation,  importance  of,  137. 

municipal  duty  and,  349. 
Savings,  difficulty  to  keep,  219. 

in  funny  places,  220. 
Scandinavians,  complaints  of,  21. 
Scranton,  lecture  to  foreigners  in,  315. 
Seamen,  landing  of,  26. 
Seasonal  labor,  70. 
Secular  Societies,  anti-clerical,  190. 

ItaHans  in,  id. 
Segregation,  process  of,  160. 
Service  to  a  Pole,  313. 
Settlements,  activity  of,  317. 

character  of  workers  in,  318. 
Sewer  pipe  plant,  foreigners  in,  58. 
Sexes,  intermingling  of,  141. 
Shacks,  housekeeping  in,  125. 
Shipping  companies,  immigrants  sifted 

by,  16  (n). 
Shoe  plants,  foreigners  in,  SQ- 
Shoe  shining  parlors,  Greeks  in,  60. 
Siberia,  escape  from,  7. 
Sing  Sing,  criminals  in,  234. 

education  in,  284. 
Skilled  workers,  foreigners  and,  74. 
Slavs,  socialism  among,  106. 
Slavs,  village  organizations  among,  188. 
Sleeping  room,  persons  per,  130. 
Slovak,  cooperation  from  a,  198. 
Slovak  National  Society,  10. 
Slovaks,  English  among,  278. 
Slovenes,  organizations  among,  187. 
Small  towns,  decency  departs  from,  117. 

drink  in,  118. 

English-speaking  residuum,  117. 

Finns  and  Slavs  in,  116. 

nature  of,  id. 
Small  villages,  education  needed  in,  123. 

neglected,  id. 
Smith,  Frank,  Italians  and,  274. 
Soap  Works,  foreigners  in,  53. 
Social  Clubs,  ItaUans  in,  192. 

Jews  in,  193. 


INDEX 


Social  conscience,  need  of,  247. 
Socialism,  foreigners  and,  104,  209. 
Societies,  cause  of,  188. 

cooperation  with,  igS  f. 

helpfulness  of,  id. 

number  of,  187. 

religious  differences  in,  190. 
Sokol  Societies,  Slavs  in,  192. 
Songs  of  nations,  use  of,  274. 
Sons  of  foreigners,  ambition  of,  325. 

cause  of  crime  among,  id. 

economic  standing,  324. 

in  cities,  326. 

moral  life  of,  339. 

protection  and,  id. 
Sons  of  immigrants,  checks  to  advance- 
ment, 337. 

interpreters  in  home,  id. 
South  Chicago,  block  in,  160. 
Southern  ports,  immigrants  landing  in, 
299. 

Southern  States,  men  needed  in,  14. 
South  Omaha,  Brown  Park,  153. 

Japanese  in,  73. 

Riot  in,  299. 
Steerage,  conditions  of,  i  f. 

government  officials  on,  353. 

new  type  of,  3. 
Speculation,  foreigners  in,  180. 

a  Polish,  180. 
Square  deal,  foreigners  ask,  77. 

immigrants  want,  48. 

need  of,  297. 
Stag  boarding  houses,  169. 

new  immigration  in,  id. 
Standard  of  living,  217. 

difference  in,  292. 

European,  46. 

foreigners  have  low,  97. 

foreigners  raise  their,  47,  219. 

nations  differ  in,  219. 

varieties  in,  345. 
Starvation  line,  foreigners  in  sight  of, 
167. 

Stealing,  foreigners  given  to,  98. 
Steamers,  introduction  of,  i . 

passengers  carried  by,  2. 
Steamship  business,  amount  of,  228. 
Strike,  Greeks  involved  in,  70. 
Strikes,  foreigners  help  to  win,  344. 
2C 


Subjection,  countries  in,  8. 
Subject  races,  naturalization  of,  260. 
Superstition,  foreigners  prone  to,  147. 
Sympathy,  foreigners  need,  120. 

T 

Tables : 

Ability  to  speak  English,  370. 
Annual  earnings  of  foreign-born  men, 
366. 

Annual  wages  of  heads  of  families,  372. 

Children  at  home,  371. 

Comparison  of  fecundity  of  immigrant 

women,  368. 
Composition  of  immigrants  by  decades, 

362. 

Density  of  population  in  leading  cities 
of  Europe,  362. 

Distribution  of  immigrants  by  geo- 
graphical division,  363. 

Expansion  of  America,  Industrial,  365. 

Fecundity  of  immigrant  women,  367. 

Foreign-born  in  population  by  decades, 
362. 

Illiteracy  of  immigrants,  370. 
Immigrants  debarred  and  deported, 
364. 

Manufacturing  experience  in  home- 
land, 364. 

Percentage  of  children  in  High  School, 
372. 

Percentage  of  families  having  lodgers 

or  boarders,  367. 
Percentage  of  immigrants  naturalized, 

370. 

Population  of  Lawrence,  Mass.,  369. 

Returning  immigrants,  361 

Total  immigrants  by  decades,  362. 
Tanneries,  foreigners  in,  50. 
Taylor,  F.  W.,  73. 
Teachers,  day  and  night  work,  283. 

specially  trained,  356. 

sympathy  needed  in,  283. 
Tenements  and  crime,  326. 
Textiles,  foreigners  in,  59. 
Theft,  crimes  of,  239. 
Thrift,  among  foreigners,  218,  294. 

among  single  men,  219. 

the  immigrant  and,  47. 
Tonnage  versus  man,  84. 


386 


INDEX 


Towns,  nations  in,  308. 

study  of,  id. 
Trade  and  commerce,  foreigners  in,  104. 
Traders,  immigrants  as,  60  f. 
Trades-union,  foreigners  and,  73. 
Tragedies,  Lithuanian  girl,  40. 

two  Polisli  girls,  id. 
Truancy,  cause  of,  332. 
Truant  officers,  difficulties  of,  333. 
Tyler,  President,  on  immigration,  249. 

U 

Unemployed,  foreigners  as,  344. 
Uniates,  difficulties  of,  203. 

usages  of,  id. 
United  States,  heterogeneous  working 

force  in,  79. 
Universities,  social  service  in,  315. 

V 

Venality,  native-born  and,  257. 
Veracity,  foreigners  weak  in,  99. 
Vermont,  marble  quarries  in,  56. 
Vices,  foreigners  copy,  94. 
Villari,  Luigi,  on  "  Italian  Life,"  8,  241, 
286. 

Vote,  power  of  a,  262. 

W 

Wage  earners,  economy  of,  47. 
importance  of,  295. 
number  in  America,  93. 


Wages,  annual  among  foreigners,  345. 

foreigners  affect,  295. 

foreigners  receive  low,  344. 

foreigners  reduce,  344. 

paid  foreigners,  69  f. 

variation  in,  69. 
Ward,  Lester  F.,  305. 
Waste,  the  immigrant  and,  47. 
Wedding  among  foreigners,  149. 
Weddings,  celebration  of,  268. 

disturbance  in,  id. 
Weddings,  policeman  in,  269. 
West,  foreigners  at  their  best  in,  152. 
Whelpley,  J.  D.,  evils  of  immigration, 
294. 

White  slave  traffic,  239. 
Wilmerding  Air  Brake  Company,  316. 
Wives,  importing  women  for,  148. 
Woman  leader,  a  Magyar,  176. 

a  midwife,  175. 

foreigners  need,  122. 

the  Italian  Queen,  175. 
Women,  Italian,  286. 
Working  boys,  foreign  standards  for, 
232. 

World  ties,  workmen  and,  296. 
Wrestlers,  foreigners  as,  272. 

Y 

Y.  M.  C.  A.,  a  foreigner  in,  300. 

English  classes  in,  315. 
foreigners  give  to,  301. 
men  touched  by,  313. 
port  work  of,  id. 


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—  The  Courier  Journal,  Louisville. 

"They  present  one  of  the  most  masterful  discussions  of  the  hopes 
and  fears  of  the  best  thinkers,  and  are  most  suggestive  of  the  way  to 
transfigure  fear  to  hope  by  educating  public  opinion  and  the  ennobling 
of  all  educational  activities."  —  Journal  of  Education. 

"  The  book  is  above  all  stimulating  because,  while  it  does  not  spare 
the  evils  in  present  conditions,  it  is  thoroughly  optimistic  in  tone  .  .  . 
full  of  careful  observations  and  sane  comments  of  value  to  every 
citizen." — New  York  Tribune. 


PUBLISHED  BY 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

64-66  FIFTH  AVENTTE,  NEW  YOEK 


By  JACOB  A.  RIIS 

THE  MAKING  OF  AN  AMERICAN 

An  Autobiography 

"  It  is  refreshing  to  find  a  book  so  unique  and  captivating  .  .  .  one 
of  the  brightest,  wholesomest,  most  fascinating  books  of  the  season." 
—  Record- Herald,  Chicago. 

"  It  fairly  bubbles  over  with  happiness,  energ)',  and  inspiration.  .  .  . 
It  is  partly  the  pleasure  of  watching  a  desperate,  thrilling  contest 
against  big  odds,  with  success  at  the  end,  that  gives  this  book  its 
keen  appeal."  —  Boston  Herald. 

"As  varied  and  delightful  as  any  romance."  —  Publishers^  Weekly. 

Cloth,  $1.^0  net 

THE  BATTLE  WITH  THE  SLUM 

"  Mr.  Riis  is  a  man  who  does  not  theorize,  but  who  knows.  His 
book  is  full  of  pathetic  pictures,  painful  in  their  truth  but  beautiful  in 
their  meaning.  No  one  who  is  interested  in  sociology  can  afford  to 
miss  what  he  has  to  say."  —  Current  Literature. 

"The  book  thrills  you  as  much  as  the  most  exciting  romance  and 
to  far  better  purpose." —  The  Boston  Herald. 

Cloth,  $2.00  net 

CHILDREN  OF  THE  TENEMENTS 

"Touches  the  heart  and  quickens  the  sympathies.  Very  human  and 
pitiful  are  some  of  the  episodes,  and  humorous,  too,  and  they  are  told 
with  simplicity  and  sincerity.  .  .  .  They  bear  the  unmistakable  stamp 
of  fidelity  to  life." — Brooklyn  Times. 

"  Mr.  Riis  has  gone  into  the  poor  districts  and  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  children  in  a  manner  that  is  not  given  to  every  one.  .  ,  .  The 
work  will  commend  itself  to  the  thinking  public."  —  The  Globe 

Democrat.  ,,    « ,  ,^  , 

Cloth,  pi.jo  net 


PUBLISHED  BY 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

64-66  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York 


By  SCOTT  NEARING,  Ph.D. 

Of  the  Wharton  School,  University  of  Pennsylvania 

Social  Adjustment 

Cloth,  277  po.ges,  $7.50  nd 
"  It  is  a  good  book,  and  will  help  any  one  interested  in  the  study  of 
present  social  problems." —  Christian  Standard. 

"  A  clear,  sane  gathering  together  of  the  sociological  dicta  of  to-day. 
Its  range  is  wide  —  education,  wages,  distribution  and  housing  of  popula- 
tion, conditions  of  women,  home  decadence,  tenure  of  working  life  and 
causes  of  distress,  child  labor,  unemployment,  and  remedial  methods.  A 
capital  reading  book  for  the  million,  a  text-book  for  church  and  school, 
and  a  companion  for  the  economist  of  the  study  desk."  —  Book  News 
Monthly. 

Wages  in  the  United  States 

Cloth,  i2mo,  $1.25  net 

This  work  represents  an  examination  of  statistics  offered  by  various 
states  and  industries  in  an  effort  to  determine  the  average  wage  in  the 
United  States.  As  a  scholarly  and  yet  simple  statement  it  is  a  valuable 
contribution  to  the  study  of  one  side  of  our  social  organization. 

Economics 

By  SCOTT  NEARING  and  FRANK  D.  WATSON 

Both  Instructors  in  Political  Economy  in  the  Wharton  School  of 
Finance  and  Commerce,  University  of  Pennsylvania 

Cloth,  8vo,  4QJ  pages,  $i.go  net 
The  book  discusses  the  whole  subject  of  prosperity  of  the  factors  which 
enter  into  the  complex  economic  life  of  the  nation.  A  young  man  who 
wishes  to  read  even  the  daily  paper  vrith  full  intelligence  would  find  time 
spent  in  reading  this  book  well  employed  for  the  help  which  it  would  give 
him  in  understanding  current  discussions  of  such  topics  as  the  standard  of 
living;  the  natural  resources  of  the  country  and  their  conservation;  the 
relations  of  labor  and  immigration;  of  the  labor  of  women  and  children 
to  industrial  progress;  of  organization  in  business  and  its  tendencies;  of 
the  growth  and  functions  of  large  corporations;  of  public  ownership;  of 
the  various  experiments  which  have  been  tried  at  different  times,  or  the 
programmes  which  social  leaders  are  now  proposing  for  the  remedy  or  the 
prevention  of  economic  injustice. 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

Publishers         64-66  Fifth  Avenue         New  York 


Races  and  Immigrants  in  America 

By  JOHN  R.  COMMONS 

University  of  Wisconsin 
Cloth  j2mo  242  pages  $1.30  net 

"The  colonial  race  elements  are  considered,  brief  chapters  are  given  to 
the  negro  and  recent  immigrants,  and  industry,  labor,  city  life,  crime,  poverty, 
and  politics  are  treated  in  their  relation  to  the  maintenance  or  destruction  of 
democracy.  Professor  Commons'  purpose  appears  to  be  to  summarize  the 
latest  available  data  upon  his  subject  and  leave  conclusions  largely  to  the 
reader.  In  line  with  this  purpose  is  a  valuable  list  of  authorities  consulted. 
It  is  certain  that  the  book  will  be  of  great  service  to  ministers,  sociologists, 
and  all  who  are  concerned  in  the  problems  of  the  day." —  Chicago  Interior, 

"  The  work  is  scientific  as  to  method  and  popular  in  style,  and  forms  a 
very  useful  handbook  about  the  American  population."  —  Dial. 

"  Well  fortified  throughout  by  statistics,  and  evidencing  a  wide  range  of 
observation,  the  great  merit  of  the  volume  is  its  sensibleness."  —  Nation. 

"  While  not  profound,  it  is  a  brief  and  concise  treatment  of  serious  pub- 
lic problems,  and  is  characterized  by  the  good  judgment  and  general  sanity 
which  are  evident  in  Professor  Commons'  works  in  general.  The  general 
point  of  view  and  conclusions  of  the  book  are  undoubtedly  sound,  and  it 
will  serve  a  useful  purpose  in  introducing  to  many  the  serious  study  of  our 
racial  and  immigration  problems.  To  one  who  can  spend  but  a  brief  time 
in  reading  along  the  line  of  these  problems,  but  who  wishes  a  general  survey 
of  them  all.  there  is  no  book  that  can  be  more  heartily  commended."  — 
Charles  A.  Ellwood  in  The  American  Journal  of  Sociology. 

"This  is  an  extremely  valuable  study  of  the  greatest  problem  which  the 
United  States  has  to  solve  to-day;  perhaps  greater  than  that  of  all  the  ages 
that  have  preceded  it,  namely,  the  assimilation  of  large  numbers  of  dissimilar 
races  into  a  composite  race.  .  .  .  To-day  in  the  city  of  New  York  sixty-six 
different  tongues  are  spoken.  A  century  hence  there  will  probably  be  only 
one.  And  throughout  the  country  there  are  communities  in  which  the  Eng- 
lish is  not  the  dominant  language.  But  the  railroad,  the  post-office,  and  the 
telegraph  as  they  bind  them  in  interest  will  bind  them  in  speech.  It  is  in  this 
view  that  the  book  is  of  inestimable  value."  —  American  Historical  Magazine. 

"  Professor  Commons  has  long  been  a  diligent  and  penetrating  student 
of  industrial  conditions  in  this  country,  and  particularly  of  the  labor  move- 
ment. His  investigations  in  this  latter  field  have  brought  him  face  to  face 
with  the  situation  that  confronts  the  arriving  immigrant,  and  he  has  been 
led  to  inquire  into  the  varying  abilities  of  different  races  to  make  use  of  the 
opportunities  presented  in  this  land  for  their  advancement.  .  .  .  We  do 
not  recall  another  book  of  its  size  that  presents  so  much  important  and 
essential  information  on  this  vital  topic."  —  Review  0/ Reviews. 


PUBLISHED  BY 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

64-66  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 


Date  Due 

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